


Live and Learn

by HiddenBookShelf



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Genre: Brothers, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Mobius (Sonic the Hedgehog), Protective Older Brothers, Sonic needs a hug, Tails needs a hug, Torn between two worlds, Unofficial Sequel, letting go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-02-19 13:43:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 37,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22812004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenBookShelf/pseuds/HiddenBookShelf
Summary: A slightly darker sequel to the Sonic the Hedgehog Movie (2020)Sonic's newfound life on Earth is shattered when one certain twin-tailed fox steps through a portal searching for the Blue Blur, and he is torn between the home he's found and the home he was forced to leave.
Relationships: Knuckles the Echidna & Miles "Tails" Prower & Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna/Tikal the Echidna, Miles "Tails" Prower & Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog & Tom Wachowski
Comments: 111
Kudos: 474





	1. His World

**Author's Note:**

> So, I haven't written in the fandom in a while, but I do like making unofficial sequels and I have fun! Hope you have fun with me!

> Chapter One: His World

The sun was almost unbearably hot and the air was heavy with humidity and moisture, making his own clothes feel too thick in comparison. Knuckles reached up with a gloved hand and pulled his mask from his face, coughing slightly in the heat. “Here?” he asked to someone unseen. “Are you sure?”

A female voice spoke in his earpiece. “Yes. We traced the spike to this planet.”

He sighed and wiped his face with the poncho covering his body. “If he’s here…”

“He _is_ here.”

He shook his head, finishing the thought in his head. _If he_ is _here, I actually feel bad for him._ The planet was uninhabited and full of mushrooms, but they had traced an anomaly to this exact location. Years of dead silence from the power source had led them to believe that their little blue friend hadn’t survived on his own. “If you say so,” he grumbled, shouldering his bow. He wasn’t the best with the weapon, preferring to use his fists instead of projectiles, but they had insisted. It seemed like a waste of time. An arrow would be no match for the hedgehog and, as far as they were concerned, there was nothing dangerous on this planet unless you were allergic to fungus.

“Just find him.”

“Sure.” He disconnected the device and started through the mushrooms, pushing his way deeper into the forest. He was just sent there as a scout. He was supposed to see if they had truly found the Blue Blur or if they had picked up something else on their radar.

Movement caught his attention to his left and he started in that direction, jogging and vaulting himself over fallen mushroom stalks. As he landed on the other side of the stalk, he almost landed right on top of a sunken in footprint. Looking around, he knelt beside the mark, reaching a gloved hand towards the print and the water that had pooled inside of it. Odd… this place was supposed to be uninhabited. Sure, they had traced _something_ here, but there had been many false positives in the years since the kid had disappeared from Mobius. He placed his fingertips on the outline of what looked like a shoe print and then brought the slightly muddied tips to his nose.

Something made him jump back. It wasn’t an organic smell, which was odd given the planet that they were on. There didn’t seem to be _anything_ on this planet that wasn’t organic. The metallic scent was so far out of place that he almost didn’t trust his own senses. He reached up to turn his communicator back on, but all he got was static. Too far from the source, most likely. He hated scouting. Frustrated, he stood up and started following the tracks. Whatever had made them walked in an unnaturally uniform stride, never veering off the singular path it was following.

When he was just about to give up on this fruitless mission, he froze as he landed from jumping over another stalk. His breath caught and suddenly the air felt heavier and wetter. The thing in front of him was a white and black machine with a red heart in the center. It’s eyes glowed as it stood there, watching the organic lifeform following it. Before he could find the words to question this… thing… something else moved to his right. He grabbed his weapon and notched an arrow just in time for another life form to step around a mushroom.

He didn’t recognize this creature. The man, he assumed, was a tall animal with fur only under his nose, and large goggles covering his eyes. “Who… _what_ are you?” Knuckles asked.

The man looked down at him. “I… could ask you the same thing.” He stood up straighter. Knuckles kept the tip of the arrow on where he assumed the man’s heart was. “What are _you_?”

“What’s that?” He motioned to the white and black machine that stood motionless.

The man chuckled. “It’s poor form to answer a question with a question!” The volume was a bit too high for what he was reacting to. “It’s a prototype,” he said after a moment; calmer this time.

Knuckles didn’t move the arrow from where it was trained. “I come from the planet Mobius,” he said. “I traced a signal here.” He motioned to the metal creature with his head. “I’m looking for a creature that looks like this soulless thing you have here.”

The man smirked and took a step forward. “He wouldn’t happen to be blue, would he?”

He pulled the bowstring tighter, the muscles in his arms tensing. “Yes,” he said cautiously.

“That creature banished me to this planet,” the man said. “And I’m trying to get home.” His smile grew wider. “Why do you want this little blue devil?”

He wasn’t sure he should tell this strange creature and his metal animal about what the echidna wanted. However, perhaps a bit of mutual understanding was what was needed. Knuckles wasn’t in the position to make any deals or alliances, but if anything, this creature had been in contact with the hedgehog; recently. “Probably the same reason you do,” he said, hoping his answer was so vague that it wouldn’t raise any suspicion.

The man’s smile became so wide that he wasn’t aware the someone’s face could stretch so much. “So, you and I seem to have the same goal.” He stepped closer, ignoring the arrow trained directly at his heart. “I think you and I can help one another.” He thrusted out his hand, still unconcerned.

Knuckles eyed the outstretched hand without lowering the arrow. What was he supposed to do with that?

* * *

“It’s the bottom of the ninth and the scores are tied.” Sonic rotated the baseball behind his back, leaning forward and eying the empty Homeplate. “One more strike and this game goes into overtime.” He leaned back and threw the pitch. Instead of running to meet the ball, he let it fly uselessly over the plate, smiling as it did. Most of the kids were at school and Maddie and Tom were at work, leaving him to wander around by himself. He sighed and before he could take off after the ball, it came rolling back to him.

“Out here alone?”

Sonic shrugged as he picked up the baseball. He tossed it back to Tom, who caught it. “I thought you were on shift.”

He smiled. “I was, but I was in the area and I thought I’d look to see if you were here.” Sonic frowned, and then laughed as the ball came flying back at him. He jumped an impressive vertical leap, catching it. “What _are_ you doing out here?”

Sonic shrugged. “Just playing,” he said, kicking the dirt on the pitcher’s mound. It felt weird being out there alone after everything that had happened, but even being part of a family didn’t mean that he was never alone. He threw the ball back. It was good that he didn’t have to hide anymore, as most people in the area seemed relatively okay with Green Hills mascot roaming their sleepy little town.

“Playing?” He tossed the ball in the air, catching it as it fell before throwing it back. Sonic caught it with a little less enthusiasm. Tom sighed. “Something wrong, kiddo?”

“Not really?” He was uncertain. Tom lifted an eyebrow. “Nothing’s wrong. I was just thinking.”

“That’s dangerous.”

He threw the ball. “Funny.” He didn’t know how to express his feelings with his two caretakers. There was a fear that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Every time they left for work, it was almost like he felt they wouldn’t come back. He didn’t want to tell them that, though, because what if they thought of him as ungrateful?

“I thought so.” Tom opened his mouth to question further, but his cellphone ringing in his car took their attention away from the awkward silence between them. Sonic ran to the car, jumping into the window and running out to hand Tom the phone all within a second. Tom seemed to have gotten used to the speedy antics of his little friend because he didn’t even bat an eye as he took the offered phone and answered it on speaker. “Hey, Maddie,” he said, his tone moving to a happier one.

“Hey sheriff,” she said. Sonic frowned. She sounded out of breath. “Where are you right now?”

“The baseball field,” he answered, shrugging at Sonic. “What’s up?”

“Something… Something got brought into the vet.” She paused and the let out a long sigh. “Is Sonic with you.”

“Yes…”

“Bring him. You two need to see this.”

Sonic cocked his head and his muscles coiled, but Tom held out his hand. “Slow down there, speedy. Just get in the car, please.” Sonic didn’t want to get there slowly, but he decided it would be best to humor Tom instead of annoying him by running off. He jogged to the police car, hopping inside as Tom came up behind him, turning on the lights and pulling out of the parking lot.

“What do you think it is?”

Tom shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road. “I don’t know. Maybe someone brought in some weird animal that you haven’t seen before,” he suggested.

Sonic laughed. “I’ve seen every animal you guys have out here. Remember, I lived in these woods for ten years.” _Alone,_ he added silently. Tom let that hang between them for a moment before shrugging.

“Maybe they got a real hedgehog and she wants to show you.”

He turned to Tom sharply. “Excuse you? I _am_ a real hedgehog! That spiny rat you showed me a picture of is not a hedgehog.”

Tom laughed. “It is, though.”

It felt good to have the back and forth and as much as he wanted to be at the vet’s office figuring out what Maddie wanted to show them, he was happy to be in a familiar situation. He looked out the car window as they drove into the town.

“You’re unusually quiet,” Tom said, startling him a little. “I didn’t think it was possible for you to be this quiet.” Sonic shrugged, ignoring Tom’s attempts to goad him. “Look, if something’s bothering you…”

“It’s nothing,” he insisted. Tom coughed. “Nothing important.”

“Right.” The two lapsed into silence and Sonic smiled. He couldn’t believe that he was still here and still in this town when, not six months ago, he thought he’d be leaving this planet forever.

As Tom pulled into the vet’s office, Sonic jumped out of the car before it stopped and ran into the office. Luckily, it was rather empty except for Maddie pacing the front office. She didn’t notice him at first. She was wearing her pink scrubs. He liked those. “Hey!”

She flinched and turned to him just in time for Tom to hurry inside the office as well. Despite his jovial attitude in the car, he seemed rather worried as he came inside. “Is something wrong?” he asked.

“Depends on what you mean by ‘wrong’,” Maddie said. “Come on.” She motioned them to the back room and he froze at what he saw there. A kid… not a human kid, but a child none the less. He was Mobian. A fox, maybe? Sonic hasn’t seen too many of them on the island. The kid’s shoulder was covered in blood.

Sonic stepped up to the table. “What happened?”

“A hunter brought him in,” Maddie explained. “Is he… from where you’re from?”

“I think so.” He put his hands on the table, watching the little fox with a frown. “He’s just a kid.” He knew that they wouldn’t know that. They wouldn’t be able to tell a kit from a todd. “Will he be okay?”

“He should be,” Maddie assured him.

Sonic stared down at the little fox on the table, his eyes wide. He hadn’t thought that he would ever see anyone from his home world again. He had always had the ability to go back, but he was under the impression that there was nothing left for him to return home to. Nothing except people hunting him. Was that what this kid was doing here? Was this another person coming for his powers? And would he put the people of Green Hills in danger again if this was what he thought it was?

He turned to Tom. “He’s a fox.”

“I got that,” Tom said. “Friend of yours?”

“No.” He hadn’t really talked to them about his home world. There was nothing really to tell them about it, and they hadn’t asked. It was probably enough for them to handle that other planets had life, let alone to gather vast knowledge about that life. Maddie was working on the kid’s shoulder.

“Sonic?”

He flinched and looked up.

“Do you know anything about his anatomy? Anything at all?”

He shook his head. “No… Nothing that would help.” He stepped back from the table, keeping his eyes locked on the kit lying there. He shook his head and left the room, trying to process all of this. He was just settling down and now someone from his home world was here? For what purpose?

He noticed a man in hunter’s gear standing in the lobby, pacing slowly. He was probably the culprit of the shooting. Sonic didn’t confront him, but Tom stepped out and pulled the man aside. “What happened?”

“I thought I was shooting a rabbit,” the man explained. “But that scream… it was almost human. I thought I had hit a child!”

 _You did,_ Sonic thought, but he knew better than to get involved in official police business.

“When I got there, it was muttering something and then it passed out. I didn’t know where to go; here or the hospital, but I remembered your wife works here and since you two have the Blue Devil, I figured she’d know more about what to do with him than the hospital would.”

Tom sighed. “You did fine. We’ll take it from here.” He ushered the man out of the room, leaving them alone in the lobby. Tom let out a weighted groan. “So… you haven’t talked about your home world much.”

He shrugged. “Not much to write home about.”

“It’s an alien planet.”

Sonic motioned around them. “No, _this_ is an alien planet.”

He crossed his arms. “Haven’t you spent more time here than there?”

Sonic scowled. “I didn’t ask your opinion,” he said, but then smiled and leaned back against the chair. “I don’t talk about it because there’s not much to talk about. I had to leave it because some people wanted my powers.”

“And this kid…?”

“I don’t know.” He turned to look at the back door. “I hope not, but…” He trailed off with a sigh.

Tom nodded. “…why else would he be here?”


	2. Far From Home

> Chapter Two: Far From Home

Knuckles didn’t know what to make of the tall creature that he was leading through the mushroom forest back to his drop point. He didn’t _need_ to, but he was trying to figure out if this was someone he really wanted to drag back to Mobius. The man didn’t ask questions and Knuckles had no reason to believe that he knew how ring portal travel worked, so he didn’t offer information that wasn’t asked about.

“So, my little red chum, what is your name.”

“Knuckles,” he said with a grunt. “The Echidna.”

“Of course, Mr. The Echidna.” Knuckles scowled, but made no comment about that. “Where are we heading?”

Knuckles shook his head, trying to ignore the man as he tapped the earpiece. “We’re going to a planet called Mobius.”

“Your home world, I presume,” the man said with a tinge of bitterness.

“Yeah…” He was getting more and more hesitant the longer her spent with this man. How long had he been on this planet, alone? His scowl deepened at the thought of being alone and something churned in his stomach. In the almost eleven years since the raid on that owl’s house, things had gone downhill fast on Mobius. He tapped the earpiece again. “Tikal,” he said.

“Did you find him?” came the response.

He winced, hating that he had to admit failure. “I don’t think he’s here. The energy source led me to something…” he eyed the metal animal walking soundlessly behind them. “…else…”

“Something else?”

Knuckles shook his head. He didn’t know how he wanted to break this news to them that he had found some strange alien and a robot that had an energy signature similar to the hedgehog’s. “It would be better for you to see it yourself,” he admitted. He turned to the man. “I’m going to open the portal now.” He was talking both to the man and Tikal. He cut the communication before speaking again. “But first, who are you?”

“Robotnik,” the man said. Knuckles waited a moment. Usually there was a “the” after a name, but Robotnik didn’t seem to want to give that information; or that wasn’t how introductions on his planet worked.

“A pleasure to meet you, Robotnik,” Knuckles said as he dug through his pouch for a ring.

“Yes… it is.”

Knuckles didn’t know if he liked that tone, but he ignored it as he tossed the ring, opening a portal. “Come on.” He motioned forward and then stepped through the glowing circle. Robotnik came in behind him as Knuckles surveyed the landscape. The beautiful green place that the hedgehog had left didn’t exist anymore. The greenery had turned to sand and dust in that time.

“It’s a dump,” Robotnik said with a laugh. “This is not what I was expecting from a planet full of talking woodland creatures.”

Knuckles clenched his fists. He had vague memories of the lush forests that they had once lived in. Those memories, however, were slowly being replaced by darker memories of decay and dust. “Let’s go,” he said, keeping his voice harsh and low. Robotnik took a deep breath before following the echidna down the slope. The sand shifted beneath their feet. Knuckles had grown used to the shifting dunes, but Robotnik seemed to be having some trouble with it. The robot hovered over the dune further behind them to avoid blowing them up in a dust devil.

When they arrived to a small oasis, Knuckles bowed his head as they passed beneath a large stone archway. When he was a kid, the oasis had been full of life. Now, there weren’t many of them left and no one was there to greet them as he led the stranger and his minion through an abandoned marketplace. Most of the stalls had long since gone out of use, but some looked more recently deserted. “What happened here?” Robotnik asked.

“Chaos,” Knuckles grumbled, pushing aside a torn and frayed cloth that covered a door. Robotnik had to duck into the stone building. The lighting inside was dull, and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust enough to see the outline of another Echidna kneeling on a small mat. She stood as they walked in, her eyes wide at the tall man in the doorway.

“Is this what was making the signature?” she asked.

Knuckles shook his head. There weren’t many Echidna left, and he and Tikal were carrying the weight of their tribe’s mission like someone carried the backpack of a dead comrade. It was heavy and burdensome, and it wasn’t theirs to begin with. He motioned to the opening and the robot walked inside. “This was carrying the signature.”

Tikal’s eyes widened further, and she stepped towards them, holding her hand to her mouth. “What is that?”

“It’s a work of mechanical genius!” Robotnik snapped before Knuckles could explain. “Do you know how many people on Earth would be able to create something so perfect out of the remains of a destroyed machine?”

“No…?” Knuckles grumbled uncertainly.

“None, because I’m not on Earth anymore!” He laughed a moment and then fell silent abruptly.

“But you have seen him?” Tikal asked, keeping her voice calm and quiet. She had always been that way. Of the two of them, Knuckles knew she wanted this whole mission to succeed the least. It had been the greed and power hunger of the Echidna that had wrought destruction on Mobius in the first place. They weren’t about to admit it, though.

Robotnik narrowed his eyes at the lighter echidna and stalked towards her. Knuckles’ hands instinctively went to his bow. “Seen him?” He laughed. “No, my stupid little creature, I haven’t _seen_ that rat! I’ve fought him! I’ve run around the world chasing him, and you know what happened?”

“No?”

“He couldn’t face me alone! I want that insignificant beast under a microscope so I can mine his body for every ounce of power his little blue form has in him!” He loomed over Tikal and suddenly Knuckles felt a very sinister air around the man he had brought. “I will _not_ lose another fight against that hedgehog!”

“Yessir,” Tikal said under her breath. She turned to Knuckles. “Come with me.” She motioned him forward and they stepped aside. “What have you brought?”

“Someone who can help us,” he said. “Look, he may be a bit… unconventional.”

“ _Unconventional!_ We don’t need another power-hungry person here!”

He shrugged. “He wants what we want. Enemy of my enemy.”

Tikal scowled. “I will talk to father about this, but until then, you should get him something to eat. If he’s been living on that planet for so long, he probably needs good meal.” She lowered her eyes. “We may not need him…”

Knuckles sighed. There had been two energy spikes that had been detected. They had gone after one. He crossed his arms. “Even if the fox comes back with him, we’ll still need a way to defeat him.” He motioned to Robotnik. “And he might be able to help us with that.” He sighed. “We just have to hope that fox holds up his end of the bargain.”

* * *

“So… do you want to talk about it?” Tom was standing in the room a little ways away from where Sonic sat. He hadn’t seemed interested in sitting down and he hadn’t relaxed the entire time. Sonic wasn’t sure if he was worried, or just antsy.

Sonic almost shook his head. He didn’t want to talk about it. There were things he’d rather just forget. But then he thought better of it. Maybe these people who had taken him in deserved to know more about him, what he was, and where he had come from. “I’m from a planet called Mobius,” he started. “I lived on an island with…” He sighed. “With someone who took care of me. She raised me like her own. But that ended when we were attacked.”

Tom leaned back on his heels. “I guess you really have been chased your whole life…”

He nodded. “I’ve always been running from people who’ve wanted my powers.” He motioned to the back room where the fox was. “I don’t want to believe that the kid is here for that purpose, but I just don’t know why else he’d be here. He would have had to trace me here and for what purpose other than to use my power?”

Tom crossed his arms, shaking his head. “Well, we won’t let that happen,” he promised. He looked towards the back room and kicked the ground with the tip of his shoe. “Can’t you just open up another portal back to your home world? We can just throw him through before he wakes up.”

“But he’s injured,” Sonic said. He didn’t like the idea of just throwing the fox back through the portal without any indication about how he would survive. There was also another reason he didn’t want to do that. There was a sense of dark curiosity. Mobius wasn’t his home anymore and he didn’t have any reason to go back there, but he wanted to know how the planet was doing.

“True.” Tom didn’t question Sonic’s choice, and he was glad. They both knew that the other didn’t like to harm anything unless they had to. He had to wonder what the man was thinking trying to go to a big city. They would eat him alive out there; but maybe he was just bias because Green Hills was the greatest place in the universe. “What do you want to do with him, then? Lock him up?”

“You could put him in a dog cage,” Sonic suggested with a shrug. Tom rolled his eyes. “And make sure you lock it this time.”

Tom held up a hand and smiled. “Okay, that’s going too far.”

“Am I wrong?” he challenged.

“Yes!” He paused and shook his head with a laugh. “…no… but that’s beside the point.”

Sonic shrugged and swung his legs over the floor, leaning back on his chair. “I want to talk to him.” The lighter mood died almost instantly. “Alone.”

Tom stepped closer, and almost put himself between Sonic and the door. It was a meaningless maneuver. Sonic could easily get past him if he wanted to. “No. Not alone. Look, if this thing really is here for you, we aren’t letting him get away with it, and the first step is to not leave you alone in a room with him.”

“We beat a robotic maniac. We can handle a fox.”

“Robotnik doesn’t exist,” Tom pointed out. They had made it a point of purpose not to mention that man, despite the fact that without him, Sonic would still be living alone in his cave. They didn’t like to remember the mustached psycho, or anything to do with the government. It was unspoken, but Sonic knew that Maddie and Tom were waiting for the ball to drop and the government to show up one day demanding the hedgehog. It was the only reason he hadn’t thrown away the rings for good.

Good things had to end. He had learned that lesson early on in his life.

“But if he did, we don’t know what this fox is capable of. You are some super powerful creature from that planet. How do we know that kid isn’t some super powerful being from that planet too?”

Sonic shrugged. “I guess.”

Before Tom could answer, the door to the back opened, but it wasn’t Maddie who exited. Instead, the fox stumbled into the waiting room, holding his bandaged shoulder. Already blood was seeping through the bandages, aggravated by him moving around before he was ready. Maddie hurried after the kid. “H-hey! You need to stop moving around!”

Tom put his hand on the hilt of his gun, but Sonic raised a hand to tell him not to draw the weapon. He nodded, but his hand didn’t move from the holster.

The fox hung back once he realized that someone was reaching for a weapon. “Are you the hedgehog?” he asked.

“Who’s asking?” Tom said before Sonic could answer. Sonic appreciated the protectiveness, but he jumped off the chair and stepped towards the fox.

“Yes, I am.” The kid wasn’t a threat right now.

The fox nodded slightly and his body seemed to relax. Apparently that was the right answer. “My name is Miles Prower.” He seemed cordial enough, but so had Robotnik when Tom first met him.

“Sonic,” he greeted. “Are you okay? It the shoulder good?”

“It’s… fine?” Miles said, cocking his head in what looked like confusion. “So, this is Earth.”

Sonic nodded. “You didn’t get a very warm welcome, did you?”

The comment didn’t land, and he wasn’t sure if that was because it wasn’t funny, or if the situation was too tense for joking. “This is great and all,” Tom said, stepping forward, “but what do you want? You are kind of trespassing on this planet.”

“I didn’t realize Earth had intergalactic travel laws,” Miles said, and Sonic wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not. “Everything we have on this planet is that you are reclusive without much space travel past your own moon. Is there some sort of passport that I need?”

“No one likes a smart mouth, kid,” Tom said.

“I wasn’t aware that I was being smart.”

Sonic stepped forward. “He’s kidding.” _I think,_ he added silently. “But… what _are_ you doing here?”

Miles sighed and leaned against the wall behind him. Maddie was watching him as closely as Tom was, but probably not for the same reason. She was still a vet, after all.

“I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to ask you something.”

“Ask me?”

“Request,” Miles clarified. “Mobius… is in trouble, and we need your help.”

“His help?” Miles nodded and Tom shook his head. “How can he be of help?”

Miles looked to Sonic and offered him a reassuring and pained smile. “You are extremely powerful and---“

Sonic recoiled as if he had been struck. “So you _are_ here for my powers!”

“No…!” Miles’ shoulders dropped. “Yes…”

Sonic threw up his hands. “Is that all you guys want? Do you want to take me back to Mobius and lock me up, and strip me dry for it? Do you want to dissect me, too?”

Miles looked up sharply. “What? No---!”

“Those Echidna sent you, didn’t they?”

Miles’ wouldn’t meet Sonic’s angry eyes. “Kind of…” His voice was barely above a whisper. He clenched his fist on his injured shoulder. 

Sonic narrowed his eyes before spinning around and starting for the door. The only reason he didn’t just burst into speed was because he wanted to be somewhat polite. Maddie and Tom didn’t deserve to have him run away without even the slightest hint of an explanation.

“They weren’t the only ones!” Miles called after him. Sonic put his hands on the glass door to push it open. “Longclaw sent me!”

Sonic froze with his hands on the door. A chill went down his spine and his body crackled with blue electricity. He whipped around and pointed accusingly at Miles; as if offended that he would even invoke that name. “She’s dead.”

“Yes,” he confirmed. “But not the day you left. She died recently… and she wanted me to find you and bring you home.”

“Home…”

Tom stepped forward. “He _is_ home. Whatever’s happening on your planet… that’s not his concern.”

“You don’t understand!” Miles snapped. Sonic just let them argue as his mind whipped and tried to sort through the emotions he was feeling. “Our world is dying! I tracked him to this planet and sent to Echidna to another planet with a similar spike of power so I could get here first. We need him!”

“He’s not fighting your war.”

Miles shook his head. “It’s not a war! A war would imply that we have a fighting chance. We don’t. Not without _him!”_ He jabbed a finger towards Sonic with his uninjured arm. The blood that had seeped from the bandage stained the white glove. “Please… I don’t want to force you to come.”

“But you will?” Tom asked.

He turned to the man sharply. “No! I won’t force him to do anything, but I think he needs to know the full context before making a choice. Mobius---“

“Isn’t my home,” Sonic said, stepping towards Miles. “I’m sorry, but it’s not. I’ve found a home here. Longclaw… she was the only one I had there… and she’s gone.” Hearing that her death was more recent than he had originally thought made his stomach twist. It brought up another heart tearing issue. If she had been alive, what hadn’t she come for him? Why had she just left him to fend for himself for ten years? “She should have come…”

“She—“ He didn’t wait for Miles to finish that thought. He was gone before the kid had a chance to even say another word. He ran through the streets but made sure to keep his speed down. The last thing he wanted was another EMP blast to get the government to think that he was a threat. He ran, but his mind wouldn’t stop on a single thought. Mobius was in trouble and apparently, he could help. Longclaw had survived the initial attack, yet she hadn’t come for him. That little fox was working for the same tribe that had been willing to _kill_ for his powers.

How did he even know that the planet was actually dying? Maybe Miles was lying just to tug at his heartstrings. For all he knew, the planet was still the lush and green place he had left, and Miles was just trying to lure him into a trap. He didn’t like that his mind went there, but where else would it go? Was he supposed to think that he wasn’t wanted for his powers?

 _You’ve had people in your life that likes you for you,_ he argued silently. Rolling his eyes, he ran a little faster. He wanted to run around the world, far away from all of this. He could be hundreds of miles away before anyone really missed him.

He didn’t run to Florida, or Canada, or Chili. Instead, he stopped in the foothills on a spot overlooking the small city. He sat down and dangled his feet over the small cliff. It was just far enough to be alone… but close enough that they could catch up if they wanted to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The movie kind of left me in this position of having the Echidna Tribe... alive? So, I moved up the SA1 tribe to modern times. I was trying NOT to introduce any characters that don't already exist in canon, but we'll see how long that lasts!
> 
> Also, the response to this fic has been utterly flabbergasting! Thank you guys SO much for the support! I will try to upload quickly for you all!


	3. Hey Brother

> Chapter Three: Hey Brother

“He… didn’t even let me explain.” Miles’ tails dropped onto the floor.

Tom stared at the place where Sonic had just been before looking at the small fox. He didn’t know what to make of this. He didn’t want to believe the kid, but a part of him knew that if this fox was lying, he was a very good actor. He crossed his arms. “That’s something you’ll get used to,” he said before looking down at Miles. Now might be a good time to get all the information he could out of the kid without Sonic butting into the conversation. “Who’s Longclaw?”

Miles sighed and sat down, leaning against the counter. “She raised him for the first few years of his life,” he said. “I guess he didn’t tell you that.”

“No.” Tom didn’t feel bad about that, though. He had figured that it was take a while before Sonic opened up completely. Someone who had lived alone that long would have some trouble opening up about his feelings. “And she died?”

“About a year ago,” Miles said with a nod. He rubbed his shoulder, wincing at the touch. “She wanted me to find him and bring him back to help Mobius. It didn’t take long to find Earth, but it took a while before I could trick the Echidna into letting me go. It won’t be long before they realize I’ve betrayed them, and then they’ll come…” He shook his head. “And it won’t be pretty.”

Tom rubbed the bridge of his nose. Since when had his life gone _so_ far off the rails? When had his sleepy town become the bastion of crazy that it was now? People had gotten used to the idea that Sonic existed, but no one had expected things to keep getting deeper and crazier.

Before Tom could question further, Maddie stepped forward. “You’re still bleeding,” she said to Miles. “Let’s get that stopped before it gets worse.”

Miles nodded and struggled to his feet, stumbling after her as she led him back to the examination room. Tom looked back to where Sonic had disappeared and then thought better of going after him. Sonic could be halfway through his third run from coast to coast by now. Tom stared at the spot for another moment and then hurried after them. Maddie stopped him before he could step inside. "You can come in only if you are willing to hear him out," she said firmly.

Tom blinked. He thought that was what he was doing; hearing the kid out. He leaned against the wall beside the door. "We need to know exactly what's going on. I'm not going to drill him, and I will listen to what he has to say."

She nodded, satisfied. "That's all I ask." She turned and stepped inside with Tom following behind her.

Miles was clambering back onto the examination table and as he did, Tom noticed something odd about the kid. He had two fluffy tail. In all the confusion and excitement, he hadn't noticed it until now. He wasn’t sure if that was odd or not. "Do all the foxes on your planet have two tails?" he asked, unsure if that was a polite thing to ask or not. His head was swimming with all this confusion. He had no idea what the culture was like on Mobius.

Miles sat down on the table and his tails wagged unenthusiastically across the metal surface. "No." His answer was short and curt, and it seemed to imply that there was more to that story that he wasn't willing to share.

Tom decided, in good faith, to leave it at that. "So..." he started as Maddie undid the bandages to replace them. Miles winced but gave no complaint. "Your planet? What's going on there?"

"It’s being destroyed from the inside out," he said, looking down at his hands. "When the hedgehog... Sonic... disappeared, the Echidna tribe went to search for other sources of power. I guess they got desperate, and then they unleashed something else entirely, and now it’s sucking our planet."

Tom whistled. That sounded very bad and very dire. He tried to defuse the tension in Miles’ story. Maybe things weren’t as bad as the kid was letting on. "These Echidna are bad dudes?"

Miles shrugged his uninjured shoulder. "I guess they are. Most of them seem pretty okay, but they just have illusions of grandeur and they wanted to expand their territory." His entire demeanor fell at some thought or another.

Tom knew that he had promised Maddie that he wouldn’t drill the kid, but these were the things that he needed to know. One word choice that Miles had made gave Tom pause. “Wanted? As in past tense?”

"There aren't many left," Miles explained quietly. His tails stopped moving and hung limply behind him. Maddie said nothing as she worked, but she frowned. The kid looked like he was trying to hold back tears. He swallowed. "This isn't about expanding the territories anymore. What's left of the tribe either blames Sonic for what happened, or they know that he's the only hope to save our planet, but I assure you, if they come here, they won't ask as politely as I am. They’re getting desperate and our world has been sapped of power." Miles motioned to a satchel lying discarded on the floor. Vets didn't have places for patients to leave their stuff. Maddie crossed the room and handed it to him.

Miles dug into the bag and pulled out a large, colorless gem. He passed it to Tom, who weighed it in his hands. It was a hefty stone and he felt a crackle faintly with his touch. "What is this?" He held the gem to the light, looking at the world through the fractured picture.

"Chaos Emerald," Miles said, as if that meant anything. Tom gave him a confused look, lifting an eyebrow in a silent request to continue on "Powerful little things that pack a punch. Sonic’s power is remarkably similar to the energy they give off." He held his hand out almost eagerly to get it back. Tom passed it back. He didn't say that it felt like the thing didn't have any power. "There's seven of them and they've been drained just as the planet has been drained." He put the gem away. "We need these emeralds and we need Sonic."

Tom crossed his arms. "And what will you do if he says no?" he asked. It was a reasonable question, but Maddie turned to him sharply as if appalled that he would ask something like that. Maybe it wasn't for him to know.

Miles looked up at Tom and locked eyes on him. "I won't force him," he said. "But he needs to see Mobius before making that choice. He needs to hear me out. The Echidna will come here, and they will drag him kicking and screaming, and if he refuses, they will find ways to force him."

"So, it's either go with you or wait for this other faction to come here and take him against his will? Isn't that basically forcing him to go?"

Miles shook his head with an annoyed hiss and then stared down at the table. His mouth twisted between anger and sadness and it was obvious that he was holding back a dam of tears.

Maddie looked harshly at Tom. "Can I speak with you alone?" she asked and then grabbed his arm, dragging him into the hallway. "Excuse us." She shut the door and looked at him with disappointment in her eyes. "You aren't his spokesperson," she said.

Tom crossed his arms and looked away from her. "I'm just trying to keep him safe.”

She looked at him and shook her head. "But that's not your choice, Tom. He has to make it himself, after he has all the facts."

Tom leaned against the wall and bit his lip. He didn't want to believe that this kid really was from a dying planet that desperately needed Sonic's help. "I just want what's best for him. Even if their planet is dying, who's to say that it's his problem?"

Maddie studied him a moment. "But that's not for you to say." Tom looked down at the ground and kicked at it with his toe. She smiled at him. "Do you think that maybe you don't want to believe that this is something Sonic has to do because you're afraid?"

"Afraid?" He looked up at the ceiling and started pacing. "Of course I'm afraid. This could be dangerous, and who knows if this kid really doesn't want to bleed Sonic dry of his powers? We don't know that."

Maddie's sad smile turned sympathetic. "Not just afraid for his safety," she said. She stepped up to him a put a warm hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you’re afraid he'll find out that that little dying planet really is his home."

* * *

Knuckles watched Robotnik as he ate the food that he had been given. His choices thus far hadn’t caused any major catastrophes, and he was hoping that trend continued. Tikal didn’t seem to like what he had done, and they hadn’t heard from the chief about it. He wasn’t sure what they were supposed to do with Robotnik if they weren’t allowed to have him there. Would they just send him back to his own world?

“So, you’ve fought the Blue Blur?” Knuckles asked after several minutes of dead silence. Robotnik was eating the food greedily. Knuckles didn’t blame him. He would be greedy with food if all he had to eat for months was mushrooms.

“I did,” Robotnik said through a mouthful of food. “Little devil is fast.”

Knuckles nodded. He had never seen the hedgehog, but he had heard stories of him by the other Echidna. “I would image so if he was able to beat you.”

Robotnik smiled and laughed with a shake of his head. “Flattery will get you nowhere, chum, but the attempt is appreciated.” He finished his meal and stood. “Where is this chief that I have to meet?”

“Pachacamac?” Knuckle stood beside the man. The robot was standing motionless in the corner of the room, silently observing them. “He will call for us.”

“I’d like to meet him.” Without waiting for any further instruction, Robotnik left the small house that they were in and stepped into the dead marketplace. Knuckles hurried after him, trying to keep his guest in line of sight. The last thing he needed was this man roaming their village without supervision. He jogged to overtake Robotnik and then found his place as leader.

There were a few Echidna watching them as they walked through what was left of the village. Most of the survivors were out hunting for any source of power they could locate. It didn’t help that with the planet being bled out, it interfered with their own location abilities. The ones still in the village were the elderly, the very young, or the sick, and they all eyed the interloper with suspicion. Knuckles tried to ignore their gazes.

They entered a tunnel that led into a mountain side and then emerged at a shrine. His eyes passed over the structure as the water flowed freely down the sides. In the center, there was a place where something large should be, but now there was nothing there. Seven pillars surrounded the altar; empty, but clearly there for a purpose. Voices could be heard from altar and Knuckles led Robotnik to the steps. “Chief Pachacamac,” he called. The hushed voices silenced. “Our guest-“ _wasn’t patient enough to wait for you,_ “-is ready to see you now.”

An Echidna stepped up to the steps and looked down at them. He was larger than Knuckles and he towered over his daughter, who came to stand beside him. Unlike Tikal’s lighter, almost sand colored fur, the Chief was dark red, almost brown. Knuckles put on fisted hand on his opposite shoulder and bowed. “I said I would send for you,” Pachacamac said. His voice was booming and demanding.

“Of course, but time is running out, Chief.”

Tikal eyed Knuckles and he shrugged sheepishly.

Pachacamac pointed the spear in his hand at Robotnik. “Approach, Earthen.”

Knuckles motioned him forward and he held his breath as they ascended up the steps to the empty altar. Robotnik towered over all three gathered Echidna and Knuckles suddenly felt anxiety in the pit of his stomach. Their guest wasn’t the kindest man, and Knuckles was hyper aware of how poorly this could go. Instead of ranting and raving about himself, Robotnik mirrored Knuckles’ salute. “A pleasure.”

Pachacamac smiled slightly. “Who are you?”

“My name is Doctor Ivo Robotnik,” he greeted, straightening out of his bow. “I come from a planet known as Earth, but I was banished by the hedgehog to a planet full of mushrooms.” He was taller than all of them, yet he still managed to have an air of humbleness to him. Knuckles was starting to feel better about his choice; for now. “I would like to know everything about this planet and how I can help restore it to what I believe is its former glory.”

Pachacamac put his hands behind his back and studied Robotnik for a moment before nodding. “We need the hedgehog to repair our world.”

Robotnik smiled. “I know where the hedgehog is, and I can help you bring him here.” He motioned to the shrine. “How did you plan on harnessing his power?”

“The Emeralds,” the Chief said. Robotnik frowned, but Knuckles didn’t blame him. He probably had no idea what they were talking about. “Do you have something better?”

Robotnik looked around, eying everything with a scrutinizing gaze. He clasped his hands together. “Does this planet have any technology that I could see?”

“Yes.” He started down the stairs, motioning Robotnik to follow him. “The fox has a workshop not far from here.”

Knuckles watched them go and once they were out of ear shot, he leaned against the support column to the altar and turned to Tikal with a crocked smile. She shook her head and looked away from him. “What’s the matter with you?” he asked, pushing off the column.

“I just don’t think what you’ve done is the best thing for us,” she admitted quietly, rubbing her hands together. She looked around the shrine and sighed. “There hasn’t been any Chao here in years, Kunx.”

He shrugged. “The planet is dying. A lot of species are disappearing.” He crossed his arms and looked up at the sky. Clouds were gathering in the distance and thunder rumbled towards them. “It’s the end of the world.”

“I know it is.” She stepped to the edge of the stares, looking out at the seven pillars surrounding the altar.

“We need the hedgehog,” he pressed. She had always been too kind a soul for her own good, They had things that must be done before the planet could be restored. The hedgehog was just another cog in the machine. “Come on, Tikal… We’re saving the world.”

She brought her hands together, balling them into one fist, and put them under her nose. “I know we are,” she whispered, closing her eyes. “But at what cost?”

* * *

Sonic stared out at the city as the sun went down and the lights came on. A cold wind blew through the town, leaving him to shiver in the cold. No one had come to get him and he was sure that soon he’d need to go back and figure out what to do about this…

But what _should_ he do? He didn’t know. Should he hear Miles out? Or should he just say that Mobius was no longer his problem? That’s what he wanted to do. “But would you be able to sleep at night?” he asked the wind.

Before the night could answer back, rustling behind him caused him to jump up to his feet. “Just me, kiddo,” Tom called, stepping out of the woods and into the clearing on the cliffside. “How are you feeling?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

“That’s an improvement.” He said down, dangling his feet, and Sonic sat down beside him. “Do you want to go back to Mobius?”

He shook his head. No, he didn’t. “But, if I have to go back to save the world, shouldn’t I?” He looked at his hands. “I said I wasn’t going to use these powers to run away anymore. Is refusing to go back to Mobius running away?”

Tom shrugged. “That’s for you to decide.” He leaned back on his hands and looked up at the night sky. The stars were particularly beautiful that night. Or maybe it was because he was looking up at the sky for what could be the last time. Maybe he had just been delaying his departure of Earth by not leaving when he should have six months ago. “But, maybe you should hear him out?”

Sonic turned to Tom sharply. “Should I?”

“All decisions should be made with as much information as available.”

Sonic pulled his legs to his chest and rested his chin on his knees. “Do you want me to go?”

“I don’t think I should tell you that. I’ll support whatever you decide.” He turned and motioned behind them. Miles walked to stand beside Sonic.

“Mobius is dying,” he said quietly. “I don’t want to drag you through a portal, and I will respect your choice, but…” He picked up a ring and tossed it. A portal opened up and the scene that it revealed was an island full of dead trees, rocks and sand. Sonic stepped towards the portal and reached his hand towards the ring. It was the island that he had grown up on. The loops were crumbling and the water sources were dried up.

“The Echidna kept Longclaw from following you,” Miles continued. “She would be happy that you’ve found something here, and I don’t want to pull you away from what you have, but…”

“You need me?” Sonic finished. He looked up at Tom and he shrugged. He sighed deeply and stared at the island through the portal. “Alright," he said with a grunt, beginning to stretch, "let’s go save the world!”


	4. Started at Zero

> Chapter Four: Started at Zero

Robotnik ran his hands over the half-built electronic device that had been left on the work bench. The wiring was exquisite. Other than his own work, he had never seen such genius robot work before. He turned the device over. “How old is this kid?”

“Eight,” Pachamanca said. He didn’t seem impressed, but Robotnik knew that it was because the Chief was an idiot when it came to machines.

He turned to the blue bi-plane and stepped towards it. Jealously surged through him. Eight years old and this kid already had machine comparable to his own. “I want everything,” he said to the Chief. “Everything you have.”

“Will it help you in the endeavor to save this planet?”

Robotnik resisted every urge in his body to tell the Chief how absolutely idiotic he was to ask such a question. Of _course_ it would help. If it wouldn’t, then he wouldn’t be asking. He missed Agent Stone because he never questioned Robotnik’s genius. He gritted his teeth as he studied the plane. What a magnificent piece of equipment. “These Emeralds that you mentioned… how powerful are they?”

“Limitless,” Pachamanca answered. “But their powers have been drained by the beast ravaging our planet.”

Robotnik didn’t look up from the plane as the Chief spoke. Limitless power that had been drained? He shrugged, admitting, just to himself, that it was possible that he was misunderstanding something about this situation. “And what does the hedgehog have to do with any of this?” He knew Sonic was powerful, and he didn’t know the source of that power just yet.

“His power signature is remarkably similar to those of the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald. If his powers can be used to energize the Emeralds, then we can harness it and bring life back to our planet.”

“Will he survive the process?” Robotnik didn’t care whether or not Sonic would live to see the end of their scheme, but it seemed like a waste to drain him completely and then leave him for dead.

“He might,” the Chief said, waving his hand without care. “Now, if you don’t mind, we need to get started. You said you had a way to capture the hedgehog. What do you need?”

Robotnik looked around the workshop. He wanted everything in it, and then some. “Resources. I need every bit of technology your people can get. I can have an army by the time that stupid little hog gets back to this planet.” He didn’t mention that the robot he had already built was already being powered by some of Sonic’s powers. That was something this stupid race of ignoramuses didn’t need to know. He hated being cordial with them, but he knew when to turn on the condescension and when to turn on the charm. He hated to admit it, but he needed them to guide him through this world until he knew how to do it himself. Then he could kill them all if they were no longer of use to him.

And once he was done with that, he could mine this planet for every resource he could. This place had power unlike anything he could have dreamt of on Earth, and once he had bled this place dry, he could take his new army to Earth and make them all pay for underestimating Doctor Ivo Robotnik.

* * *

Sonic threw his backpack on the table. Tom spun around as the hedgehog jumped onto the table after him. “I’m ready!” he declared.

Tom lifted his eyebrow and grabbed the backpack before frowning at Sonic. “What are the comics for?” He knew that Sonic was a bit odd, but comics?

Sonic shrugged. “In case I get bored.”

“Bored?” Tom shook his head, looking at Sonic. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “We’re going to go fight a giant space monster and you think you’re going to get bored?”

Sonic looked up at Tom with a genuinely confused expression. “I don’t know. I’ve never fought a space monster before. Do you think I won’t get bored?”

“It’s a space monster. We’re saving a planet! I don’t see how you could possibly get bored!”

Sonic shrugged again and pulled out a paddle ball; probably the same one he had gotten from the gift shop. “Do you think this’ll be better?”

Tom just sighed and put his hands on the table, leaning down.

“Can we be serious about this? My world is dying,” Miles said from the doorway to the kitchen.

“Believe me, this _is_ serious for him.” He stood up straighter and grabbed the holster for his gun, strapping it on his hip. Sonic watched him and suddenly he did become serious; deathly serious.

“You aren’t coming.” He crossed his arms.

“Yes, I am.” Tom wasn’t about to have Sonic tell him what he could and couldn’t do. He didn’t need the hedgehog giving him a lecture about how much he didn’t need.

Miles jumped onto the table beside Sonic. “No, I agree with him. I’ve noticed that the human race is extremely fragile, and I think you’d just be a liability in this situation.”

Tom narrowed his eyes at the children. He was sure that Miles didn’t know that he was being rude, but that didn’t make him any less annoyed by what had been said. “Excuse you. I am a police officer. I’m not a liability.” He pointed to Sonic. “You want him, you’re taking me with you to Mobius.”

Miles crossed his arms and then shook his head. “Fine.” He waved his hand. “We don’t have time to argue. You two hurry up. The longer we wait, the more the planet dies.” He jumped from the table and hurried away. Tom had no idea what he was doing in the other room, but he didn’t bother with it. Honestly, he had gotten used to not knowing what small humanoid animals were doing in his house.

Once the fox was gone, he turned to Sonic. “Why don’t you want me to come?”

“Because you could get hurt.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m going because I don’t want you to get hurt. And I’m the adult here.” He picked up Sonic’s pack and handed it to the hedgehog. “You worry about the space monster and I’ll worry about myself and keeping you out of trouble.” Sonic grabbed the backpack, hugging it to his chest. His ears fell to his head like a sad cat. “Don’t give me that look. You go finish packing or whatever, I’m going to talk to Maddie. Get that fox ready to go within five minutes.” Sonic vanished as he ran upstairs and Tom went outside where his wife was waiting for him where she sat on the porch steps. He sighed and leaned against the porch post. “He’s worried. He’s acting like he’s not, but I think he is.”

Maddie looked up at him and her eyes told him that Sonic wasn’t the only one who was worried. “You don’t have to go, you know. This isn’t your fight.”

He crossed his arms and looked up at the night sky. Seven months ago, he hadn’t even bothered to ponder the existence of life outside of Earth. Now he was going to another planet to save it. “It isn’t Sonic’s fight either,” he said.

She looked down at her hands and shook her head. “It is though. It’s his home planet.”

“No, it’s not! It’s the planet where he’s from.”

Maddie looked up at him and sighed. “Tom—”

“I just want him to be safe.”

“I know you do, but that doesn’t mean you have to follow him to another planet to fight something that you are not equipped to fight.”

Tom knew that she was only this worried because she wanted him to be safe. He knew that he shouldn’t be mad or annoyed at her for this, but he didn’t want her to hate him for wanting to help people. Would this have been her reaction every time he put the badge on in San Francisco? Being an officer wasn’t the safest job in the world. Sure, it wasn’t saving the world dangerous, but it wasn’t safe either. 

He sat down beside her and put his arm over her shoulder. “I know you’re scared.” He laughed sadly and pulled her close to him. “I’m scare too. Do you think I want to go out there and fight this thing when I know the risks?” He shook his head. “I don’t, but I also don’t want him to go alone.” He hugged her. “I know I can’t ask you not to worry, because you’re going to regardless, but I can promise you that I will come back, and I’ll bring him home with me.”

She rubbed his back and nodded. “Alright then, Sheriff. Good luck.”

He patted her arm and stood, stretching. As he stepped inside, he picked up his phone and dialed the station. “Wade,” he said with a smile when the man picked up. “Hey, so, I’m not going to be in town for the next couple of days. Do you think you can handle things for me?”

“Where are you going?” Wade asked without answering the question.

Miles and Sonic were standing in the living room, talking about something. “Actually, you know Sonic, right?” He paused a moment. “Well, someone from his home world came to Earth and now I’m going back to their planet to help save if because apparently it’s dying.”

Wade didn’t speak for a moment; and then he laughed. “Just say that you three are going on a quick vacation. There’s no need to lie about it.”

Tom closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. “Yeah, sure. Just hold the fort for a few days, okay?”

“Will do, Tom!”

He hung up and pocketed the phone despite the fact that he was sure it wasn’t going to work on Mobius. He clapped his hands together. “Alright Mobians, let’s get this show on the road!”

Miles rolled his eyes as he grabbed a rain from his pack. “I really don’t think you two are taking this as seriously as you should,” he grumbled.

“If I allowed myself to really think about what I’m doing, I would have to check myself into a psych hospital,” Tom said. Miles looked at him and flattened his ears with a cocked head. “Just throw the ring, kid.” Miles shrugged and did just that. The portal opened not on the desolate island, but over what looked like a city. The fox jumped through and Sonic followed without hesitating. Tom turned to the door and Maddie was watching them with a soft smile. She mouthed “I love you” and he nodded before stepping through.

Despite having done this so many times, the feeling of his stomach dropping as he stepped through had never become familiar. They were on an overpass looking over the remains of a city. “I… didn’t know that your planet had cities,” he admitted. “Sonic?”

He shook his head. “I had never left my island. What is this place?”

Miles crossed his arms. “Station Square,” he said with a sigh. “Or… what’s left of it, anyway.”

Tom put his hands on his hips and looked out. The city was in ruins and while the disaster wasn’t immediately recognizable, it looked like it had been a flood that had toppled the city. The water seemed to have been drained and the city had been abandoned so long that nature was trying to reclaim it, but even the trees and other floral that had sprouted in the buildings were dying. “What happened here?” he asked as he exhaled. It looked horrific and he could only imagine the amount of lives that were lost in the flood.

“Chaos.”

“Yeah, I get that what happened was chaos, but what was it?”

Miles motioned out into the city. “No, you misunderstand. Chaos happened here. It attacked the city. This was the first city it came to after being released by the Echidna.”

Tom shook his head and help up a hand. “Wait… you’re telling me that Chaos… is a _proper_ noun?”

He shrugged. “I suppose.”

Sonic walked to the railing of the road and clenched his fists. Tom didn’t even want to pretend he knew what was going through Sonic’s mind. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. It would be best to get to the bottom of whatever was going on. He’d deal with Sonic’s shock later. “Chaos is a name?”

Miles nodded. “Chaos is a god.”

“We’re fighting a god?” Suddenly he felt very lightheaded. A god? That wasn’t what he had signed up for. “Alright, first things first, what do we need to do?”

Miles pulled out the depowered Chaos Emerald. “We need all seven of these guys and we need the Master Emerald back in working order.” He addressed Sonic. “That’s where you come in.” Without warning, he tossed the gem towards Sonic. With his inhuman reflexes, Sonic grabbed it out of the air, holding it. The moment he got a hold of it, the colorless gem flickered green for a moment before sputtering out. “Once we get all the emeralds and power them up, we defeat Chaos and reseal it. Once that happens, the power that its syphoned from Mobius should return through the Master Emerald.”

“Should?”

“It’s a working theory,” Miles admitted.

“And Sonic has to fight this thing?”

“Shouldn’t be that hard, I imagine.” He turned to Sonic. “You got all of that?”

Sonic nodded slowly. “Find some gems, power them up, fight a god. Sounds pretty straight forward.” He tossed the Emerald back to the fox. “The only question I have left is what do the Echidna have to do with any of this?”

“Yeah… about that.” Miles kicked the ground with his toe. “You see, we need to Echidna. As of right now, the Master Emerald is shattered, and the Echidna are the only ones we can restore it.”

Tom stepped towards the fox. “So, what you’re saying is that the faction that we need to avoid are the only ones who can enact this plan?”

“Yep.” He wound back to throw another ring, but Tom grabbed his hand.

“We aren’t going to take him to the faction that wants to use him without regard for his life!”

“Calm down. There’s an Echidna who might be willing to help us.” He tossed the ring and it opened to what looked like a small house situated on a cliff. “We can hide out there.” He didn’t wait before he hopped through.

Tom sighed and looked to Sonic. “You doing okay?” he asked.

“Yeah…” He started for the ring portal.

“Sonic, I mean it. Are you doing okay?”

Sonic sighed. “It’s just a lot to take in,” he admitted. “I just… I’ve fought a mad scientist and that’s it. Saving an entire planet seems like I’m skipping a few steps.”

Tom was tempted to tell Sonic that they could just go home. This was all a bit too much to expect so quickly. But he had promised Maddie that he would support this mission and not stand in the way of it. “Just let me know if you’ve had enough. This doesn’t have to be our fight.”

Sonic didn’t answer. Instead, he hopped through the portal, leaving Tom to stare out at the water-damaged city. “What am I doing?” He shrugged and then stepped through the portal.

As he arrived at the house, he could tell instantly that something was wrong. Miles grabbed Tom’s pant leg and dragged him out of sight. “What’s going on?” The fox pointed and Tom’s stomach turned to ice. The man looked different. More ragged and more weight, but he was unmistakable. “Robotnik…” Tom whispered.

“Friend of yours?”

“No,” Sonic said. “Definitely not a friend…”

Tom clenched his fists. He hated the fact that now things were getting too much. It wasn’t the god that they were supposedly fighting. It was this man that now made this operation more dangerous.

“He’s taking my stuff!” Miles snapped. Tom grabbed his shoulder. The last thing they needed was Robotnik to know that they were there. The element of surprise might be the only reason they survived. “But that’s my stuff!”

“And that’s not someone you want to deal with. Right, Sonic?” He turned and looked, but the hedgehog was gone. “Sonic…?” His stomach dropped. Sonic was impulsive and usually that just meant that he and Tom got into pointless arguments. This, however, was _not_ what they needed.

“Eggman!” Sonic called.

Robotnik, who was heading back into the workshop, turned and then smiled. “Well, well! The little blue alien. You’re doing well.”

Tom buried his head in his hands. “This can’t be happening…”

“What are you doing here, Eggman?”

“The name’s Dr. Robotnik, you tiny cretin.”

“This is my planet!”

Robotnik sighed. “Yes, well, you came to my planet and kicked me out. Didn’t you think that I would find my way to yours?”

“Not really,” Sonic admitted. “Honestly, I tried to forget I had even met you.”

“Who is this guy?” Miles asked quietly.

“His name is Doctor Robotnik,” Tom said through his fingers. He couldn’t watch this. “He’s from my world and he is a very bad dude. He tried to kill us both. And almost succeeded,” he added quietly. It felt odd to even remember that. Sonic was powerful and it was hard to think that anyone could get close to defeating him.

“He’s stealing my stuff.”

“He’s a mechanical genius.”

Miles narrowed his eyes. “So am I.” He jumped out from their hiding spot and Tom felt like ripping his own hair out. If Sonic was impulsive, this fox kid was just stupid. His hand went to his gun instinctively, but he refrained from firing. There had to be some intergalactic law against going into a foreign planet and shooting people.

“Hey, Mister Eggman!” Miles shouted, running towards them.

“Doctor!” Robotnik snapped. “My name is Doctor Robotnik!”

Tom clenched his fists. These two were going to get them all killed!

“And what do we have here? A little two-tailed fox? How absolutely odd!” He bent down, towering over Miles. “What a peculiar little creature you are! Are all the foxes on this planet so strange?”

“You leave Tails alone!” Sonic snapped, stepping between them.

Miles turned to Sonic. “Excuse you?” He shook his head and went back to Robotnik. “Look, this is my stuff you’re messing with Mister-“

“Doctor!”

“Dr. Robotnik.”

“Apologies, but I am merely trying to save your desperate little planet.”

Tom sighed, shaking his head. He didn’t like this one bit. He stepped out from the hiding spot. “That’s real rich, Doctor,” he called.

Robotnik turned and the smugness and good humor drained from his face, replaced by pure, cold malice. “Thomas Wachowski.” He spread his arms wide with an even wider smile to match and stepped over the two animals to approach. “What a pleasure it is to see you again!”

Tom steeled himself. “I wish I could say the same.”

Robotnik stopped and his fake grin faltered a bit. “Now, now. There’s no need to be hostile, Thomas. I believe you and I have the same goal in mind.”

He crossed his arms. “And what would that be?”

“Saving this quaint little planet.”


	5. What I'm Made Of

> Chapter Five: What I'm Made Of

Sonic clenched his fists as he stared after Robotnik. This wasn’t what he was expecting. “You want to save this planet?” Sonic asked before Tom could get any questions out.

Robotnik turned to him and smiled. “Of course! We’re both here, aren’t we? Shouldn’t we be working together to save this little rock?” 

He crossed his arms. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Well, prepare to believe.” Robotnik stepped towards Sonic. Tom picked up his gun and held it tightly. “You need to be more careful, Sonic. This world needs you, and you’re being selfish by resisting.”

“I’m not resisting, Eggman, I just don’t think your way is the only way to get this done.” He motioned to Miles. “I want to save this planet, but I want to do it Tails’ way.”

Miles’ ears dropped at the nickname, but Sonic ignored it. He wasn’t too bothered by the fox’s annoyed expression. The kid had two tails. He shouldn’t be surprised by the nickname.

Robotnik sighed, waving his hand dismissively. “I was hoping I wouldn’t unveil this so soon, but you leave me no choice.” He reached out his gloved hand and pressed a button on the heel. Sonic braced himself for an explosion or something to come towards them, but there was nothing.

He cocked his head. “Is… something supposed to happen?”

Robotnik didn’t seem the slightest bit annoyed or concerned. He just smiled at them. “Give it a moment. He’s a little shy.”

“He?” Tom asked. Miles had already snuck off towards his workshop, leaving Sonic and Tom to face Robotnik alone. Apparently, Miles figured that he and Tom could handle a rogue human. “Did you already make friends here, Doctor?”

Robotnik smiled. Sonic didn’t like the look of that smile. It was a cold and cruel grin that made his spine shiver and his blood boil at the same time. “I don’t make friends, Wachowski, I make children.” As if on cue, something landed heavily between Sonic and Dr. Robotnik. The robot was the same white, black and red colors scheme, but it had a distinctly hedgehog look to it.

Sonic took a step back from the robot, smirking. “Doctor, I’m flattered that you created a robot that looks like me, but that’s a little creepy.”

Robotnik shrugged. “It’s what six months of total isolation does to a person.”

Six months? That must have been a dream compared to his own seclusion; isolation imposed by this stupid planet he was trying to save. Instead of trying to make Robotnik understand his own pain, Sonic just settled back on his heels. “What’s his name? Or does he not have one?”

Robotnik shrugged. “I haven’t named it. Why should I?” The robot stepped towards Sonic. Its soulless eyes stared hard at its organic counterpart. With a motion of Robotnik’s hand, the robot settled into a fighting stance. “We shouldn’t be fighting, Sonic. We should be working together.”

“Why do you want to save this planet?” Tom asked. “If you just want to go back to Earth, we have the ring portals. We can send you home.”

Sonic didn’t like that idea. It seemed like the worst thing they could do. Sending Robotnik back to Earth would just leave the people there to have to deal with him.

Fortunately, the good Doctor seemed to dislike the idea as much as Sonic did. “Back to Earth? Why would I want to return to a place that rejected me for what I am?” He stepped forward. “The real question, Sonic the Hedgehog, is why you want to save _this_ planet. This place forced you to leave and killed your only family.”

Sonic clenched his fists. Blue sparks started on his fur, but he didn’t take the bait.

“It doesn’t make any sense. We’re about to tear each other apart for a planet that neither one of us belong to.”

The time for talking was over. Sonic ran at the metal hedgehog, curling into a ball. The machine barely moved to dodge the rolling attack, leaving Sonic to roll away. He unrolled from the ball, using his feet to slide to a halt. Before he could even react, the robot was on him, throwing him back with a metallic punch. He came to a stop against the workshop.

“Sonic!” Tom started towards him, but Sonic got to his feet, holding his hand up to stop Tom’s approach. He glared at the metal hedgehog. That actually hurt. It wasn’t like he had spent the last six months learning how to fight. Earth had been rather kind to him after everything had happened; as long as he didn’t cause nationwide blackouts. He shook his head to clear it.

“Cheap shot, Eggman.”

“If you were prepared, then you might not have gotten hit.”

Sonic ran at the robot again. He sidestepped an attack and kicked out, sending the robot flying. It hit the ground and transformed itself into a ball to roll with the impact. Sonic ran after it and kicked the metal ball like he was playing soccer. It flew towards Robotnik, causing him to dodge while Sonic ran after the ball.

No matter what he tried, the metal ball wouldn’t break or unravel, making it almost indestructible. Sonic jumped onto it and tried to pry it open, but it was a steel trap, closed as tightly as a bear trap. “Why. Won’t. You. _Break_?!” he shouted as he punched and pried at the robot, punctuating each word with an attack.

The robot suddenly sprang open like a coiled spring, sending Sonic flying off of it. As he went to stand, the sound of bullets being fired echoed. They ricocheted off of the metal hedgehog and Sonic ducked as a bullet whizzed by. “Watch it!”

“Sorry!”

“Do you really think I’d make a machine that can be taken down by bullets?”

Sonic coiled to run charge but before he could, the sound of a plane taking off took his attention. He looked up to see a blue biplane heading towards them. “Get on!” Miles shouted. Sonic looked between the plane and Tom and then to Robotnik and his creation. Without thinking, he leapt up as the plane came close enough. Miles whipped around and flew towards Tom, who grabbed Sonic’s hand and was dragged onto the tail of the biplane. Sonic looked down as they hurried to the clouds. Robotnik was watching them go with an amused expression on his face. The soulless metal hedgehog merely stood without moving, observing their hasty retreat.

Sonic kept Tom secured on the plane as it came in for a landing several miles away from the workshop. Once on the ground, Tom stumbled from the plane and dropped to his knees, gripping the grass tightly. Sonic was a little better for wear; taking the impromptu flight in stride. “I think that went well!”

“Speak for yourself!” Tom snapped. He looked like he was about to vomit. “We’re supposed to fly _in_ planes, not _on_ them!”

Sonic shrugged. “The kid knew what he was doing.” He put his arm around Miles’ shoulder. “Right, Tails?”

“Miles…”

“What?”

He shoved Sonic’s hand off his shoulder. “Miles! My name is _not_ Tails! It’s Miles Prower!” He threw his hands up in the air with an exasperated sigh. “For Gaia’s sake, can you take _nothing_ seriously?”

Sonic cocked his head and his ears fell flat as Miles advanced on him. “I…”

“This planet is dying!” he shouted, jabbing a finger in Sonic’s chest. Tom stood slowly from where he was kneeling. “I brought you here to help save Mobius. I get that this isn’t your home, but it is _mine!”_ He gestured to the dying forest around them. “This is the world I grew up in! I’ve heard stories of what this place used to look like! The Mystic Ruins were once green and filled with lush forests and now they’re nothing but wastelands. I’ve lived my whole life being told how great this planet used to; how vibrant and beautiful it was! Is it so wrong that I want to see the world that my parents got to grow up in?” He shook his head, clenching and unclenching his fists. “This was a mistake.” He waved a hand. “Just… go find the Echidna. They know what to do.” He turned and started away with his tails dragging behind him. “Or just go home.” He stormed off, with his tails whipping angrily behind him, leaving Sonic to stand there, dumbfounded.

“I…” He turned to Tom. “What did I do?”

Tom sighed and came to stand by him. “Seems like the you made him mad.”

Sonic didn’t need to be told that. It was pretty clear that he had made the kid angry. “I didn’t…” He sighed, his shoulders deflating. “…mean to. I just wanted to give him a compliment.”

Tom got down on his knees and then rocked back to sit down in the browning grass. Sonic sat beside him. They sat there a moment, staring at the evidence of the dying world around them. He felt awful. Tom rocked back to lean on his hands. “He’s just a kid, and I think he’s scared.”

“I get that.”

Tom looked at him. “Do you?”

Sonic said nothing for a moment. He stared out at the dying trees, hugging his knees to his chest. Yes, he did. He understood all too well what it was like to have your entire world fall apart around you. When he had been forced from Mobius, everything he had ever known had been taken from him so quickly that he hadn’t even had time to process it. He knew what it was like to be absolutely terrified of what was happening to him and the world around him. Miles was watching that same decay of his life in slow motion. “I do,” he said at length. He stood and stretched. “I should go talk to him… shouldn’t I?”

Tom nodded. “That sounds like a good idea. I’ll…” He looked back at the biplane. “…take a closer look at this death trap.”

Sonic sighed with a soft laugh and started after the fox. He still wasn’t sure what had gotten into the kid, but maybe he was taking this trip a little too lightly. But that was just how he did things. He walked until he located Miles sitting on a platform overlooking the ocean. Sonic shivered. Water… he still hated water. “Hey… Miles?”

The reply was curt and biting. “What?”

“I didn’t know that you were sensitive about your tails.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know.”

“Yeah…” Sonic walked to the edge and stood precariously on the edge. “Look… I wasn’t making fun of your tails when I called you that. You see… I’m not very good at remembering names.”

He looked away and the tails twitched angrily.

“I think they’re pretty cool, honestly.”

Miles rubbed one eye with his gloved hand and sniffled. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does, though. I think,” he added, hesitating with his words. He wasn’t good at this. Only seven months ago, his only companions were the voices in his head. He kicked a rock over the edge. It fell and disappeared into the break below. “I’m sorry if you think I’m not taking this seriously. It may not look like it, but I really do care if we save this place.”

Miles scoffed.

“I learned early on that if you don’t laugh at certain things, they’ll overwhelm you.”

Miles turned sharply to look at Sonic. His blue eyes glared at the hedgehog. “That’s easy for you to say. This isn’t your world on the line. You can go home if we fail; I can’t because it’ll be my home that vanished.”

With a grunt, Sonic sat down, dangling his legs over the edge of the cliff. “I know, but if it’s important to you then I should be taking it more seriously, and for that, I’m sorry.” He leaned back on his hands, looking up at the sky with a smile. “So… you mentioned parents. Where are they?”

“Dead,” Miles grumbled. “Back when I was too young to remember them, so I guess it’s fine. I was raised by some birds.”

Sonic smiled. “Hey, so was I! I didn’t learn to fly a plane, though.”

Miles laughed. “Flickies, to be exact. The Echidna came to me once they found out about my tech. They wanted me to find you, and when I did, they brought me to their village, and… that’s when I met Longclaw.”

At that, Sonic’s stomach dropped. He looked down at the waves breaking on the rocks.

“I watched them tell her that I had found you and later, when we were alone, she begged me not to tell them. She wanted to keep you safe and she told me why she sent you to Earth anyway. So I told the Echidna that I wasn’t sure if that’s where you were. I sat on the information until I could trick them into thinking you were somewhere else.” He looked down at his hands. “I should have left you on Earth and done what she wanted, but I wanted to save this stupid little planet. The Echidna would find you eventually, and I figured I would be nicer to you than if the they would.”

Sonic sighed. Now, it seemed, was the time to stop joking around; mostly. Yes, they were trying to stop the end of the world, but that didn’t mean that the kid couldn’t lighten up a little bit. _But if you’re going to expect him to lighten up, then you need to sober up._ “Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I understand how important this is to you; to everyone here. This world is your home and I want you to see it how they’ve all said it used to be.” He smiled and held out his hand. “So, let’s start over. I’m Sonic the Hedgehog; and you are?”

* * *

Knuckles looked up from where he sat on the steps leading up the shrine as Tikal came towards him, holding her hands to her chest. “Knuckles?”

“Hm?”

She stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “I’m worried. I heard father and that man you brought talking. The hedgehog is here.”

He stood, his eyes widening. The hedgehog was on Mobius? That was great news! He stood. “Well, did they catch him?”

“No…”

He frowned. “You don’t seem too upset about that.” He walked down the steps towards her. He put his hands on her elbows. “Tikal, he’s just a hedgehog. Who cares if he gets hurt? Isn’t it worth it for the good of Mobius?” She turned and looked away from Knuckles, staring at the ground hard. “Don’t you want to see the Chao here again?”

She pulled away from him, glaring at the ground. “Is it so wrong for me to want to do this without hurting anyone?” Knuckles sighed without answering and started towards the cave that lead into the mountain. “Knux!” she called, and he stopped. “Is it?”

“He’s one guy, Tikal! What is his comfort compared to the fate of the entire world?”

“I’m sure if we ask him—”

“Maybe,” he admitted. “But maybe not. Why should he get the choice to leave our world to rot?”

“Aren’t we just not admitting to our mistakes? We caused this.”

“You and I caused nothing,” Knuckles said. They were paying to the sins of their fathers and it was their responsibility to make sure this got fixed; no matter who got hurt in the process. “But we’re the ones who have to fix it. I’m going to go talk to the Doctor and figure out the next course of action. If he’s on the planet, we’re already ahead of schedule.”

“That means that Miles betrayed us.”

Knuckles nodded. “That makes sense. The kid’s young and always seemed like a bleeding heart.” He turned back to her and tried to offer her a smile. “We’re going to save the world, Tikal, I promise. You’ll see Chao here again.”

She looked to the ground and kicked at the stones with her sandaled foot. “I just don’t think we’re going about this the right way. If we just steal his powers, then what? If we kill him—”

“It will be worth it.” He turned and started through the tunnel, kicking a rock as he walked. It was worth it. It had to be. He sighed. The last thing they needed was infighting in what little people they had left. Tikal would realize that everything they were about to do was worth the cost of one blue hedgehog.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what the hardest part about this story is? Consistently calling Tails "Miles".


	6. Measure Up

> Chapter Six: Measure Up

Maddie had been extremely supportive of the lifestyle that her husband had inadvertently thrust them into when he decided to help a little blue alien instead of turning him over to the government. One might even say that she was a little _too_ supportive. One of those people was her sister, Rachel.

“It’s not _that_ weird,” Maddie argued, rolling her eyes. Was it time for her daily dose of “I can’t believe you’re still with that alien obsessed man”?

“You sure about that?”

She sighed and leaned on the kitchen counter. “Okay, yes. It _is_ that weird, but if this is what he wants—”

“Well, what about what you want?”

Maddie smiled. Deep down, her sister really was just looking out for her and she honestly thought that Tom wasn’t the best that Maddie could do. “I don’t mind it.” And she didn’t. It took some getting used to when they first adopted Sonic, but eventually they had settled into their new normal. Leaving the planet, however, wasn’t normal. “Are you and JoJo coming over next weekend?”

“Will Tom be back next weekend?” Rachel asked. Maddie had decided it best not to tell her sister that Tom and Sonic had gone back to his home world. Rachel would construe it somehow to say that Sonic had abducted Tom; not that she would have an issue with that, but it would confirm her suspicion that they were harboring the alien from _Independence Day_ , hellbent on world destruction.

“It’s just a retreat. Barring any unforeseen circumstances—” Her doorbell echoed through the house. “—he should be back by next weekend.” A knock; followed by Ozzy barking at the door. “Rachel, I’ll call you back.”

“I’m telling you—”

Maddie hung up, leaving her sister in midrant. One day she would put an end to it once and for all, but for now, she could handle it as long as Tom could. “Ozzy!” she snapped, herding the dog away from the door. She opened the door only to be met with a man dressed in a long dark coat. He had what looked to be a freshly shaven face, but other than that, the man seemed to be rather disheveled. In his hands was a large manilla folder that seemed almost empty.

“Mrs. Wachowski,” he said without waiting for her to say anything. “My name is Stone, and I am an associate of Dr. Robotnik.” Maddie’s eyes widened and she went to slam the door in the man’s face, but he put his foot to stop it, wincing as the door hit him. “Please, ma’am! Hear me out.”

“We want nothing to do with Dr. Robotnik or anyone associated with him.”

“I understand,” Stone said quickly. “And I don’t blame you, but the government won’t tell me what happened to him! According to their records, Ivo Robotnik is a man who never existed.”

Maddie scoffed. “If only that were true.”

He ignored her. “I thought that your husband or the alien would know where he was.”

She gripped the doorknob tightly. Should she tell him that Tom wasn’t here? Would that embolden him? “We don’t know where he is.” That was a lie. They knew where they had sent him, but whether or not he was still there was up in the air. “And we don’t have to portal rings anymore even if we did.”

Stone looked at her almost like a lost puppy. “Please. You’re the only one who will even acknowledge that he exists.” She held her ground. “I’m not here to hurt you. I just need answers.”

She sighed and opened the door wider, offering him into the doorway. Ozzy growled as he stepped inside but fell silent as she put her hand down to silence him. Stone stood awkwardly in the foyer, keeping his head down and his eyes away from her face. “Sonic and Tom aren’t here,” she said after a moment. “Robotnik was sent through a ring portal to some planet with mushrooms. That’s all I can tell you.”

He nodded. “I was afraid that was everything.” He ran his hand over the folder.

“What’s that?” It seemed like a fair trade.

“Information… All I could dig up on Robotnik. The government is good at making it seem like people, places and events never happened.” He offered her the file and she took it hesitantly. If she opened it, would she become an accomplish to whatever this man was trying to accomplish?

She spoke without looking up from the closed file. “Why do you want to find him?”

“Robotnik was the only real friend, I suppose, that I’ve ever had; but I knew nothing about him. When he disappeared, I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I started digging. The Robotnik name has been erased from history. Not just Ivo, but his entire family tree.”

“Because of what Robotnik did?”

Stone shook his head. “Not just because of that. His family has been involved in government cover-ups for half a century, at least.”

Maddie opened the folder and blinked. It was a small report with one very blurry picture stapled to it. It was hard to make up, but there was a very distinct silhouette in the picture. “Is that… Sonic?” she asked.

“No. That picture was taken fifty years ago.” He shook his head slowly. “I also came here to talk to Sonic.”

She ran her hand over the report, scanning it. She looked up at him. “What was the Space Colony A.R.K.?”

* * *

Tom turned as Sonic and Miles walked back towards the plane. He smiled. It seemed that Sonic had managed to smooth things over with the twin-tailed fox. Tom leaned on the biplane. “Now that you two seem like you’re getting along, what’s the game plan? Where are these emeralds we need to find?”

Miles jumped onto the plane’s wing to stand face to face with Tom. “First things first, we don’t really need to find the emeralds. I have one, and the Echidna have 5 of them.”

“That’s only six,” Sonic said.

Miles nodded. “Yeah. The last one is being held in a government facility in Central City.”

“Government?” Tom wasn’t sure why, but he was surprised to here that they had a government. Maybe it was because the planet seemed to be inhabited by a bunch of animals and it didn’t feel like that they should have some sort of central government.

Miles seemed to have misunderstood Tom’s confusion. “Everyone in the world pretty much knows that the only way to defeat Chaos is through the Chaos Emeralds. Unfortunately for the government, though, the Echidna are a lot better at finding things that just about anyone else on this planet. In the time it took Central to get one Emerald, the Echidna had six of them.”

“And now you have one of them?”

“They gave me one to bring to Sonic to make sure he can power them.” Miles tossed said gem at Sonic and he caught it without looking.

“Are we going to make sure I can power them?” he asked.

Miles shrugged. “Soon. But breaking into a government facility will be pretty easy. The problem will be getting the five that the Echidna have and retrieving the Master Emerald. I have an Echidna who will be willing to help us, but the one in charge of the Master Emerald…” He shook his head. “Let’s just say that he’s about as hot blooded and hard headed as Chief Pachamanca.” He smiled. “First things first, though, Central City.”

He looked at the biplane and Tom instantly knew where this was going. “We’re not flying there, are we?”

Miles nodded. “We’ll teleport to Central City, but we need to plane for a getaway.”

“Can’t we just port into the government building?”

“I’ve never seen the inside of it,” Miles said. “Let’s go.” He jumped into the cockpit.

Tom eyed the single-man plane. “That’s not made for three people.” But he scrambled behind the driver’s seat. Maddie would kill him if she knew that he was risking his life in such a stupid way. Sonic jumped onto the wing of the plane and it took off. Tom grabbed onto the cockpit and closed his eyes as the plane rose into the air.

As they got airborne, Miles threw the ring and a portal opened up in the sky. They went through it and suddenly they were flying over a large, well-lit cityscape. Tom gripped the seat in front of him and tried to push down the rise of nausea. One second he was flying just a few feet over the ground, the next they were well over a hundred feet in the air. He had thought that one day he’d get used to that, but it seemed that it would take a little bit longer.

The plane angled towards a building that looked almost like a knock-off White House. Tom tried to push down his own vomit as his stomach twisted and jumped. He tried not to think about the place crashing. This kid was young, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t fly. He had survived this long. But, how much more durable were Mobians compared to humans? _Don’t think about that!_ He thought desperately. He slammed his eyes shut and didn’t open them again until the place had landed safely on an empty helicopter pad.

Tom jumped from the plane and held his stomach, trying not to empty it.

“Let’s go,” Miles said, waving them forward. Both animals didn’t seem any worse for wear by the flight, leaving Tom the only one still trying to rediscover his land legs. He stumbled after the children, trying to get everything together. He was the adult here and he didn’t have time to freak out over it. “How are we going about this?”

Miles handed Sonic an eyepiece. “He’s going in to get the Emerald, and I’ll guide him. You, however, will stay up here and be yourself.”

He crossed his arms. “And what would that be?”

“Useless,” Miles said. By his tone, Tom could tell that the kid wasn’t being mean or condescending; he was merely being logical. Out of everyone here, Tom was probably the least useful in this situation.

“Right…” His shoulders dropped and he turned to address Sonic. “You got this, kiddo?”

He flashed a smile and a thumbs up. “I got it.” He addressed Miles. “Emerald, right?”

Miles nodded. He was tuning a device that Tom could only assume came from some compartment on the plane. The top of the device read “Miles Electric MK II”. The static on the screen cleared and suddenly Tom saw himself on the device. He turned and realized that what he was seeing was the feed from the eyepiece that Sonic had been given. Miles motioned to an air conditioner vent and Sonic jumped into it.

Once he had vanished, Tom turned back to the feed on the Electric. “So, go over the plan with me again.”

“We get the Emerald, and we make a getaway.”

Tom nodded slowly. The feed was a bit blurry and dark, but Sonic kept moving through the vents. “Okay, that seems to be step one. Then what?”

“We get my contact in the Echidna tribe to give us the rest of the Emeralds.”

“And then?”

“Sonic powers them, and then we get the Master Emerald,” Miles said. He clicked a button on the device. “Go left up at the fork. They’re not expecting anyone to take it, so don’t worry about retaliation.” He released the button.

Tom waited patiently and then continued once the instructions were given. “And what if he doesn’t know how to power them?” Tom asked.

Miles looked as if the thought hadn’t crossed his mind. His tails stopped idly wagging and his ears dropped some. “He knows how to use his powers.”

Tom wasn’t so sure. Yes, Sonic had successfully used his powers and he hadn’t had any major outbursts since that night, but at the same time, he hadn’t been training himself on controlling it. They knew that it had a lot to do with his emotions, but they weren’t sure exactly how the powers worked. “But what if he doesn’t? What’s Plan B? How can Emeralds of unlimited power be drained of their power?” Miles attempted to ignore him by focusing on the device. “These are questions that need to be answered, kid.”

“I don’t know,” Miles mumbled under his breath.

“What?”

“I don’t know. The Emeralds were drained before I was born. The Echidna know.”

“So you’re saying that you don’t know what you’re doing?” He clenched his fists and Tom tried not to argue with him. He didn’t want to drill the kid, but this all just felt like a bad idea. “What is Plan B?”

“There is no Plan B,” Miles admitted, staring hard at the Miles Electric. “Plan A _has_ to work.”

* * *

Sonic looked down at the room where the Emerald sat. Miles hadn’t give him instructions, but he figured he could handle it from here. He sighed and suddenly, the world around him froze. He could have this done before Miles and Tom finished their argument. He jumped down from the vent and landed gracefully onto the ground. The Emerald was colorless like the other one and when he touched it, it flickered purple before fading out. His whole body shook as he held the gem.

“What are you?” he asked the thing in his hand. He didn’t know why it made his body tremble and it felt like ants were crawling all over him. He released a long breath and jumped back into the vent. He got back to the roof just as Tom looked about ready to throw Miles off of the building. “Got it,” he said, offering the device to the fox.

Miles jumped back and looked down at the gem without believing that it had been that easy. “You… you actually got it.”

“Yeah.”

Miles took the gem and smiled. “And you didn’t trip any alarms or anything?”

Before Sonic could assure his twin-tailed partner that everything was a-okay, wind from helicopter blades threatened to throw them off the building. Spotlights illuminated their group.

“You are in violation a UZA Code 59!” a voice from the helicopter boomed.

“What’s that?”

“Probably something about not stealing things from government buildings,” Tom offered.

“Or illegally landing on the roof of a government building,” Sonic guessed.

Mils rolled his eyes at them. “Get to the Tornado!” He turned tail and ran. Sonic jumped onto the wing of the plane while Tom scrambled where he had been; all the while, a hail of gunfire chased their escape. Tom barely had time to get to his spot before Miles gunned it, taking off in a stomach churning drop before lifting up.

“If they don’t know how to work it, why do they want it back so badly?” Tom shouted.

“It makes them feel safe!” Miles jerked the plane to the side to avoid gunfire. “Everyone knows that the only way to save the planet is through the Chaos Emeralds, but no one knows exactly how.”

_Except the Echidna,_ Sonic thought. While Tom and Miles seemed legitimately concerned, Sonic was taking all of this in stride. Power the Emeralds. He stared down at the gem in his hand as the plane dove down through the buildings. All he had to do was power the Emerald. He focused on it and his skin began crawling with electricity. A smile spread across his face as color started fading into the Emerald. This could work! He could—

A scream cut through Sonic’s concentration. “Tom!” he shouted just in time to see Tom’s body plummet towards the ground as Miles took the plane back up towards the clouds. Sonic entered bullet time, but was too late to grab him. He exited in time to hear Tom’s screams fading.

“Take the wheel!” Miles shouted over the roar of the plane and wind.

“What are you going to do?” He tried to think of something. Jumping from this height to save Tom would kill them both, and even if they got the plane down to him, his body hitting the plane would shatter it and every bone in his body.

“No time!” Miles didn’t wait for Sonic to ask again. He jumped from the cockpit and streamlined his body to fall faster than the grown man; but he wasn’t falling fast enough. Sonic grabbed the wheel and awkwardly spun the plane around towards the falling bodies. Miles opened his tails out and spun them, using them to propel himself faster.

_What is that going to do?_ Sonic thought desperately.

Miles caught up to Tom and grabbed his shirt. In a move that Sonic thought for sure would be impossible, Miles’ tails spun faster, and they changed course. Instead of going straight down, their fall angled in an arch, forcing them into a pendulum-type movement to prevent stopping on a dime. The kid was using his tails to fly.

A ring portal appeared in front of them and they soared inside. With as much grace as a newborn puppy, Sonic maneuvered the plane through the ring as well, angling it for a bad landing. It dug into the ground, leaving a deep gouge in the dirt. Sonic jumped off the plane before it even came to a rest. The vehicle was destroyed, but he was lucky to be alive with that kind of landing.

Miles landed with Tom not too far from the wreckage. Tom rolled upon landing and Miles landed heavily on his feet, gasping for air. Tom rolled onto his hands and knees and retched. He didn’t even have time to wipe his mouth before Sonic ran at him with a tackle, hugging him tightly. “You’re alive!”

“Y-yeah…! I’m alive.” He wrapped his arms around Sonic. “Are you okay?”

Sonic laughed. “Am I okay? You’re the one who went through a freefall!”

“But you crashed a plane.”

“Plane!” Sonic jumped away from Tom to see Miles watching them curiously. “I… I’m sorry.” Miles shook his head and walked towards the wreckage. Sonic turned to Tom, who nodded, assuring him that he was okay. “Miles!” He jogged after the fox. Miles had has hand on the two-tailed emblem of the plane. “I… I really am sorry about wrecking your plane.” He said nothing. “But you saved Tom’s life. You can _fly._ That’s incredible.”

Miles sighed and bowed his head. “You really do care about that human, don’t you?”

“I do.”

Miles balled his hand into a fist and hit it against the plane’s side. “I’ve never saved a life before. I just… jumped out of the plane. I didn’t know what I was doing, or what I was thinking. Or even if I was thinking.” His ears fell flat. “The Echidna told me you were selfish.”

“What?”

“They said that it wouldn’t matter if you survived this whole mess because you were just selfish, and cruel.” He looked up at Sonic. “But you’re not. You’re a good person. You have friends. I’ve… never had friends.”

Sonic frowned. He knew what that was like. He knew all too well… “You can’t say that anymore.” He reached into the cockpit where the Emerald had fallen. “Let’s go get the rest of these Emeralds and fight a giant space god.”

Miles laughed and shook his head. “Let me contact Tikal and we’ll get this show on the road.”


	7. The Faithful Drown Together

Chapter Seven: The Faithful Drown Together

Knuckles walked down the stone path, kicking a rock in front of him as he walked around the large temple at the center of their village. He had once known the religion his people followed, but those things tended to fall away when the world was ending. He clenched his gloved fists and bumped his knuckles together absently. Tikal’s worries swirled through his head and he tried to ignore them. She didn’t understand. How could she? She was too kind for her own good and she wasn’t prepared to do what had to be done in this situation.

He paused at a large hut and sighed, looking up at the ornate building that put the other shacks his people lived in to shame. He started towards the entrance. The Chief most likely knew about his daughter, but Knuckles didn’t know if he knew how deep her compassion was. He stopped before pushing his way into the building.

“The hedgehog’s safety isn’t my concern,” the Chief was saying. “The last Chaos Emerald has been stolen from Central City, meaning that we no longer have to declare war on the UZA in order to get it.”

“Was declaring war an option?” Robotnik asked.

“It was.”

Knuckles sighed. He didn’t quite understand the politics of his own world, but the Echidna tribe was indigenous, meaning that they weren’t exactly citizens of the UZA and the people who now lived on their lands were basically letting them have their own culture. Any act against a government building would have been seen as an act of war, leaving them to wait for the Chaos Emerald to leave the government’s custody. He shook his head at the thought. The idiots in the cities didn’t know the first thing about the Chaos Emeralds, even if they pretended to. If there was one thing that Knuckles knew better than anyone, it was the Emeralds.

In fact, he was supposed to be guarding the Master Emerald as they spoke, but since no one would dare come into their stronghold, he felt pretty safe leaving the Emerald to wander through the streets. Everyone was trying to save the world, but only the Echidna knew how. “If only they’d listen…” He stepped into the hut and put his fists together before lowering his head in a less formal salute to the Chief. “Chief Pachamanca,” he greeted. He fell out of his salute. “Dr. Robotnik.”

Pachamanca smiled and opened his arms wide in greeting. “Knuckles, my son!”

Knuckles forced a smile at the greeting. Son… He wasn’t the Chief’s blood relative. Knuckles, like most of the Echidna children, was an orphan. His parents had died fighting Chaos when the Chief came to them to unleash the monster from the Master Emerald. “The Emerald has been recovered?” he asked, trying to keep everything on track.

He nodded. “It has. That fox that you and Tikal brought in seems to have stolen it from Central City. We need to recover it and the hedgehog.”

Knuckles crossed his arms. “Do you have a plan for that, sir?”

“I do. But, for now, I need you to get back to your post with the Master Emerald. Now that the fox has two Chaos Emeralds, he will be here to finish his collection.”

Knuckles scowled and forced himself not to say what was on his mind; why did it matter who saved the world? Yes, he wanted the Echidna to be the ones who defeated Chaos, since this whole mess was his tribe’s fault, but he didn’t know why they were fighting the other faction. “Of course, Chief.” He looked to Robotnik. “And what will you do?”

“I have my own plans,” Robotnik said. He nodded to Pachamanca, who nodded back, before leaving the tent.

“Do you trust him?” Knuckles asked when the man was gone.

“I think we would be stupid not to. The world is ending, my son. We need all the help we can get.”

Again, Knuckles kept his mouth shut. The world was ending _because_ of them. But if Pachamanca listened to his people, then they wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with. He turned and left after bowing, and then headed through the village. Tikal was getting to him. Knuckles had never been enamored by his people. He was a traditionalist, but he was desperate to fix the wrongs of his tribe, no matter who got hurt. That was the difference between him and Tikal, he supposed. She wanted to save the world without casualties. Knuckles wanted to save the world and didn’t mind the cost of doing so.

He crossed into another clearing where the Master Emerald sat on another shrine. It had been moved from the Chaos shrine after the attack. But he wasn’t looking at the Master Emerald. He was looking at the five empty spots where their Emeralds were supposed to be. Knuckles cursed but didn’t move. Tikal…

He had to guard the Master Emerald. If he told Chief Pachamanca that his daughter had taken the Emeralds, he would show no mercy to her. He clenched his fists until they trembled.

At what cost…? She had asked him that. What price was he willing to pay?

* * *

Miles watched Sonic intently as he fretted over Tom, making sure he was still okay. Miles was still shaking even hours later. His hands were shaking and his tails hadn’t stopped wagging nervously since the accident. The plane was destroyed, but he could make a new one. That wasn’t a problem. What was a problem was that he had jumped from his plane without any real knowledge that he would have been able to save the human.

“Mr. Prower?”

Miles flinched and turned as a tan Echidna walked towards that. He stood. “Sonic, Tom,” he called. They stopped their talking when she got closer. “Tikal.” He motioned to Sonic. “I’d like you to meet the Hedgehog.”

Her eyes widened and she held a hand to her mouth as Sonic walked towards them. “I… It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sonic the Hedgehog.”

Sonic laughed. “The pleasure is all mine.”

Miles had been a little nervous bringing an Echidna there. While he was sure that Sonic didn’t hold a grudge, they were still the ones responsible for ending whatever life Sonic and Longclaw had had all those years ago. But there was no animosity between Sonic and Tikal as he greeted her by shaking her hand; an Earthen tradition that Miles still didn’t quite get.

After greeting him, Tikal turned to Miles and handed him a satchel that she had slung across her shoulder. He took it and she grabbed his hands tightly. “I can never go back to my tribe,” she whispered. “This will work… right?”

He smiled, though he was sure that it wasn’t that great of a reassurance. “Yeah, it’ll work.” He tried to keep all the uncertainty out of his voice. He didn’t tell her that he wasn’t sure. He didn’t tell her that it wasn’t that it would work, it was that it _had_ to work. He pulled his hands from her grip and turned to Sonic. “Ready?”

Sonic turned to Tom, who nodded with a smile. Miles placed the seven Chaos Emeralds in the circle and then instructed Sonic to stand in the center. Tom went to stand a little ways away, squatting near a tree. “What do I do?”

“Power them,” Miles said with a shrug. He didn’t know. No one knew how to power the Emeralds. No one had tapped into them before.

Sonic nodded and closed his eyes. After a moment, blue sparks played on Sonic’s body, shooting from his quills and then bouncing and squirming over him. Miles clenched his fists and Tikal put a hand on his shoulder as the ground beneath them shook. A spark jumped from Sonic’s body and landed on one of the emeralds, crawling over it before leaping to the next one. It moved from emerald to emerald, bouncing between them without finding a place to settle. Miles held his breath as it got to the last Emerald, wiggled all over it and then jumped into the grass where it sputtered and died.

“That’s okay,” he said through clenched teeth. “Try again.”

Sonic frowned and closed his eyes tighter, furrowing his brow. Again, the sparks came and this time, more bounced from his body to the waiting gems. They were all looking for a home in the emeralds, but one after another, the sparks died in the waiting grass.

After several minutes, Sonic’s determined face turned more and more desperate and Miles’ whole body was frozen. This had to work. It was the only way to save everyone. He didn’t say that, though. There was no point in making Sonic feel worse about the situation. He seemed to understand just how dire it all was.

“Alright,” Tom called from where he was standing. “I think that’s enough for now.”

“No!” Miles snapped. “It’s not enough!” The planet was dying! They didn’t have time to wait for Sonic to work through whatever was making his powers go on the fritz. He turned to the hedgehog, pleading. “Just try again… Please.”

Sonic offered him a smile and he squeezed his eyes shut, clenching his fists until they shook. The blue sparks started again. They weren’t just coming from his body, but from the ground as if he were charging up using the planet’s energy as well as his own. Miles bit his lip and his whole body trembled. “Please…” he whispered. The emeralds began lifting slightly off the ground, quivering as the power from both Sonic and Mobius tried to find purchase in them.

Suddenly a bolt of lightening shot to the sky from the ground. Clouds formed and thunder cracked like a bomb, shaking the ground like an earthquake. The light coming from Sonic began to glow so strongly that it lost its blue tinge and turned white and yellow closer to the center. Miles held up his hand to shield from the light. His heart was pounding, and he couldn’t breathe. This was it!

Another lightening bolt came and struck Sonic, and then the light vanished, leaving them in relative darkness. The emeralds floated a moment after the light had come, revealing their colors. Miles’ eyes widened. He had never seen them powered before. He dared to let out a soft chuckle that died in his throat as the colors began sputtering and fading.

“No…” he whispered. His heart dropped as the emeralds fell to the ground. Their power flinched and then they all faded back to their dull grey. Miles could only stare blankly at the gems. His stomach felt like it was made out of lead. Tom stepped into the circle and knelt by Sonic, who was on his hands and knees, coughing.

“We’ll… try again,” Tikal said, but Miles shook his head. This had just been a theory. They didn’t know if Sonic could charge the emeralds. If that display hadn’t powered them, nothing would. His ears fell flat against his head.

“You okay, kid?” Sonic asked.

He shook his head and took a step back from them. Without saying anything, he shambled away from the group.

“Miles!” Sonic called after him. He didn’t stop walking, stumbling like he was drunk. “I’m sorry!”

* * *

Maddie ran her hands through her hair, shaking her head as Stone explained what he had found out about the colony. It wasn’t much. “There was an accident,” he explained. “Something the government didn’t want the public knowing about.”

She studied the blurry photo. It had no color, but she could barely make out the markings on the hedgehog in it. “Do you know what kind?”

He shook his head. “They’ve done a very good job of covering it up. There’s nothing about it. The only reason I have this file is because it was what Ivo had. This was all _he_ could recover about the A.R.K.”

“Why did he want to know about it?” She had the feeling that if it was something he wanted, then they probably wanted nothing to do with it. Stone took the folder and pulled out another photo. This one was clearer. An older man sat with a young girl in a wheelchair, posing for the photo. The image was yellowed and the edges were frayed. “Who is that?”

“Gerald Robotnik and his granddaughter, Maria.”

Maddie’s eyes widened.

“Ivo spoke occasionally about an accident that took his cousin before he was born. Apparently, Gerald died relatively recently in some prison. That was all I could dig up; all anyone could dig up. The government doesn’t want anyone to know about the A.R.K. and what they were doing up there.”

She closed the file, studying Stone. What drove this man to become so obsessed with a mystery that had nothing to do with him? And, more pressingly, why should she care? “I’m sorry, but I don’t see how this involves me or my family.”

“The warp rings,” he explained, taking the folders. “The A.R.K. is still up there, Mrs. Wachowski. I want to go.”

She frowned. “Why?”

He shrugged. Maybe he didn’t know, or he just didn’t want to tell her. Either way, she didn’t think it was a good idea to help the right hand of a madman uncover some government secrets. “They hid this for a reason,” she said carefully. “Whatever’s up there is obviously something we’re not supposed to know about. Leave it be, Mr. Stone, and move on with your life. Dr. Robotnik is gone, and you should accept that fact.” She stood. “Now, please leave my home.”

Stone looked at her hard in the eyes. A shiver went down her back. “I have nothing left,” he said. “Nothing but that A.R.K.!”

“I can’t help you.”

“Yes, you can!” he shouted suddenly, standing. “Where are the warp rings?”

Unwillingly, her eyes darted to the kitchen drawer where the rings were kept. They kept them around for many reasons; mostly mundane, like taking a vacation in another state without the peskiness of driving or flights. They used them sparingly.

Stone moved to the drawer and yanked it open, revealing the bag of rings. “This is all I wanted.” He picked up the bag and pulled out two rings. One to the A.R.K. and one home. He gently put the bag back and closed the drawer back.

“You got what you came for,” Maddie said tightly. “Now, you need to leave.”

He stared at her again. “If that hedgehog is there... You know about the species. Surely you could help me.”

“That was fifty years ago,” she argued, but she couldn’t deny that she wanted to know the mystery. How could there be a hedgehog in photos from half a century ago? Was it possible that this wasn’t the first time the Mobians had come to Earth? She watched Stone for a moment. He seemed unstable enough to force her to come. She grabbed her bag and sighed. “Alright.”

Stone threw the ring with his eyes closed. It opened up to an eerie hallway, lit only by emergency lights, casting a haunting red hue on the otherwise darkness of the colony. Stone nodded and stepped through. She waited a moment to make sure he wasn’t suddenly killed by lack of air and she stepped in after him. The ring shrunk and vanished, leaving the two humans alone with only the sound of ghost machines to keep them company.

* * *

Miles sat on a large rock overlooking a lake. The moon had risen by now, casting a silver light on the lake. No one had come for him. He had almost been expecting one of them to come and talk him off the ledge. But they had left him to his own devices. He sniffled, having mostly cried himself out by that point.

“Now what?” he asked the lake. He didn’t know what to do. If Sonic couldn’t power the emeralds, then even going to the Echidna wouldn’t help. They were out of options. “I’m sorry.” He had made a promise that he would fix the world. Some people believed that Mobius had its chance and now it was time to let it die, but how could he do that? People had been evacuating his whole life, but most were either hopeful that someone would stop Chaos, or they were too scared to leave, or simply resigned to their fate. “I thought I could fix it all.”

“Miles Prower, I presume.”

Miles flinched and turned sharply. “Doctor Eggman…”

The man’s eyebrow twitched. “Robotnik,” he corrected. And then he frowned. “Are you alright?” Miles shook his head and turned back to the lake. “I’m going to guess that you were unable to power the Emeralds.”

He scoffed and his tails twitched.

“Ah, I see.”

“What do you want?” he snapped, letting all the bitterness of the day enter those words.

“To help you,” Robotnik said. He came to stand beside the rock. “You need to harness Sonic’s power to defeat Chaos.”

“What of it?”

Robotnik sighed. “Listen, you and I got off on the wrong foot, Miles. I want to save this world as much as you do, and I only stole that stuff to help you.”

“You tried to kill Sonic.”

“Yes, I did. But you have to understand, when I first met Sonic, he was an invading species that no one had seen before. Humans have this terrible attribute to fear what they do not understand.” He put a hand over his heart. “I am truly sorry for my actions on Earth. I have had many months to go over what I have done and to understand them as terrible. And unforgiveable,” he added solemnly.

Miles stared at the lake for a long moment, his stomach churning. “Do you have a plan?” he asked at length. “ _Anything_ that would be helpful? Because I don’t. This Gaia forsaken planet is doomed.”

Robotnik also looked out at the lake. “I do have a plan. The Chaos Emeralds cannot harness Sonic’s power, but I can.”

He scoffed again. “Impossible.”

Robotnik motioned to something unseen and the metal hedgehog stepped from the tree line. Its body was white with a red chest piece and black limbs and eyes. It walked towards them, acknowledging Miles with nothing more than an inhuman nod. “Quite possible, actually.” He opened the robot’s chest plate to reveal a single glowing quill.

Miles’ breath caught. “You…”

“I’ve harnessed his power.” He replaced the chest plate before Miles could get a good look at the wiring.

“May I?”

Robotnik nodded and Miles jumped off the rock and got close to examine the robot. It was a marvel of engineering. He suddenly felt inferior to the mechanical prowess that he was in the presence of. “We’re both scientists and mechanics, Miles.”

“If you want to save the world, and you know how, then just ask Sonic.”

He laughed. “If only it were that simple. You see, I’m not exactly on the hedgehog’s good side. After what I did to him, for the sake of my own world, mind you, he would never trust that I had Mobius’ extended existence at heart.”

Miles ran his hand over the chest piece of the robot. It stared back at him soullessly. A shiver went down his spine and he pulled his hand back. “Do you want me to convince him?”

He shook his head. “He won’t believe you either; not with Tom trying to keep him safe, even at the expense of your own planet.” Miles looked from the robot sharply. Robotnik shrugged. “Tom means well; they both do. But he wouldn’t dream of letting Sonic put his life in danger to save this planet. Honestly, between you and I, I think that Tom is secretly hoping this mission fails. Sonic might want to stay in his home world if you were able to save it.”

Miles clenched his fists. “He wouldn’t sacrifice a world… not just for that.”

“He might. It’s not his world, after all. Why do you think he’d care enough about you, your world or your mission when he’s at risk of losing someone he cares about?”

Miles stared back at the robot, his eyes wide. He didn’t know enough about humans or Earthens. “You have a plan, then?” he asked, resigned.

“I do.” He handed Miles a vial and he took it gingerly.

“You want me to poison him?”

“I want you to make sure he can’t run, and this will slow him down long enough for me to catch him.”

Miles studied the clear liquid inside. “It won’t kill him?”

He smiled. “Of course it won’t. He’s no use to anyone dead.”

“And after you get him?”

“I harness some of his powers to fuel an army of robots. Simple as that. Then he’ll be free to go home or do whatever he wants.”

Miles held the vial in his cupped hands. His ears went flat on his head and his tails wagged rapidly without pattern. “That’s it? Just give him this?” Robotnik nodded with a smile. Miles held the vial to the moon. “And you promise that Sonic won’t get hurt?”

Robotnik’s smile widened. “I swear to you, he won’t feel a thing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, since the whole world is locking down, I might as well get out chapters faster for y'all!


	8. Nothing Should Last Forever

> Chapter Eight: Nothing Should Last Forever

The Space Colony A.R.K. was a dark and dreary place. Maddie was almost afraid to breathe as they walked through the desolate space station. How did they know the air was breathable up here? And, if it truly was still perfectly fine, why? She kept her hands in front of her, nervously intertwining and rubbing her fingers as they walked. The place was a complete time capsule. Everything had been left as it had been fifty years ago. There were discarded items on the ground that had been left there from whatever had happened on the station. Stone seemed to know where he was going as they walked through the remains of the A.R.K.

Maddie stopped in front of a window overlooking the Earth. Her stomach dropped at the view. It was beautiful, but also terrifying. For the past few months, her life had been turned upside down. She had adopted a kid that was blue, and her husband had been a wanted criminal and had almost been killed by a madman. She put her hand on the window and shuddered. She had to remind herself that Tom was somewhere on a different planet.

But this seemed stranger somehow. Going to another planet was so far removed from normalcy that it was probably easy to forget what normal was. Staring at the Earth from the space colony was surreal. It wasn’t so far removed from what normal was to be a completely different experience. It was close enough to what she knew that it was almost difficult to see it as completely odd. And that feeling chilled her to the pit of her stomach.

She shook her head, banishing the thought, and turned to Stone. “What are you looking for?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “Whatever the government doesn’t want us to find up here.”

“And what is that?”

Stone closed his eyes. “The A.R.K. was working on things that had to be done outside of Earth’s atmosphere. We’re here to figure out what that was and why they had a hedgehog here.”

Maddie nodded slowly. She didn’t know if they were doing the right thing, but they seemed to have no other choice. Stone had led them on this path and she followed him as he started through the A.R.K. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what was hiding up there. The government had shut the A.R.K. for a reason and if she knew what she wasn’t supposed to know, then she was a traitor to her country, wasn’t she? Tom had become a criminal to help Sonic, but who were they helping? Stone wasn’t in trouble. If there had been a hedgehog here, he’d be dead by now. It had been 50 years. There was no one up here.

“Agent Stone.”

“Yes?”

“What are you going to do once you find what you’re looking for?” Finding the secrets of the A.R.K. wouldn’t mean finding Dr. Robotnik.

“What depends on what we find, I suppose.”

Maddie couldn’t imagine that something the government had gone through such trouble to keep hidden from the masses would be any good for anyone. She just hoped that whatever was up here wasn’t a world ending weapon.

Eventually, their walking seemed to come to a head. Stone paused their walk in front of a door labeled “Project Shadow”. He reached down and grabbed the door handle, opening it quietly. The door opened without resistance, as if it had been broken in the raid. Stone stepped slowly into the room and Maddie peeked over his shoulder, looking beyond.

The lab was in complete disarray. Dried blood scattered the work stations. The computer terminals had been shot and bashed in deliberately; like they were trying to destroy whatever was on them. As if that wasn’t strange enough, the oddest feature of the room were broken and shattered capsules that looked like they were made to hold some sort of life form. Wires hung uselessly from the tubes, connected whatever had been there to some sort of life support. She recognized some of the machines as older and bulkier versions of life support machines that they had in the vet clinic. Whatever liquid had been in the capsules had long since dried up, leaving green residue pooled at the bottom of them and around their bases.

Stone walked through the lab gingerly, as if he were afraid of waking some sleeping monster lurking in the shadows. Maddie stayed back, terrified of what she was seeing and what they might discover. She shouldn’t be here. _They_ shouldn’t be here. They were trespassing. They were breaking so many laws that she couldn’t even begin to fathom how much trouble they’d be in just for being on the space station. “Agent Stone?”

He hardly seemed to hear her voice. “This is it,” he whispered. “The reason they shut this place down.” He put his hand on one of the computer terminals. “There’s something here. There _has_ to be.”

* * *

Sonic stared up at the sky, lying on the ground and resting his head on his hands. There was a deep and profound feeling of guilt for not being able to power the Chaos Emeralds. He had been so sure that he could do it. He held up the dud Emerald and clenched his fists around it, almost like he wanted to crush it. “Why didn’t it work?”

“You okay, kiddo?” Tom asked as he came towards Sonic. He stood over the hedgehog, looking down at him with his brow furrowed in concern.

“I’m fine… but I don’t think Miles is.” He tossed the gem to Tom. “I think he’s really mad.”

Tom shifted the emerald from hand to hand absently. “I think so, too. But I don’t think he’s made at you. I think he’s just mad in general.”

Sonic sighed and rolled onto to his side. “Does that make it any better?”

“I suppose not.” He sat down on the grass and crossed his legs, running his hand over the colorless Emerald. “What happened during that whole thing?”

Sonic looked up at the sky and found a particularly bright star in the sky and pretended that it was Earth. He missed Green Hills and what passed for a normal life he had there. Why did he think he could save an entire planet? He had barely survived Dr. Robotnik. He wasn’t equipped to fight a space god or save the world. He was just a kid. “I don’t know,” he said after a moment. “It was like I could feel the Emeralds; almost like they were sentient. I could feel Mobius all around me and I thought I had it! And then…” He shook his head, keeping his eyes locked on the star. “And then I lost the connection, and I don’t know why. I had it!”

“What happened when you lost it?”

Sonic closed his eyes and gripped the grass with his gloved hand. “I just thought about how Miles needed this to work, and I… I…” He trailed off. Talking about feelings. Was that something normal people did? He didn’t know how to talk about what was bothering him. He had never had to explain any of this to anyone.

“You thought you couldn’t do it,” Tom suggested.

Sonic’s eyes opened and he sat up. “Yes! Exactly! I doubted myself and then the connection snapped like a rope with too much pressure.” His excitement died down. Was that it? Had he doubted himself so much that he had severed the connection to the planet?

“I get that.”

He laughed. “You? You don’t doubt yourself.”

Tom chuckled. “I wish that were true.”

Sonic sat up onto his knees and studied his human companion. His ears drooped a little and he cocked his head in thought. “When?”

Tom leaned back on his hands and looked up at the sky with a soft smile on his face. “Well, there was this one time when an annoying little blue hedgehog came into my house looking to me to save his life.” Sonic scowled. “I thought, of all the places on Earth, this little guy landed in _my_ town and had come to me for help.” He laughed and shook his head. “I thought for sure there had been some mistake. Like the universe didn’t know what it was doing when it chose me. I couldn’t possibly be the one who was supposed to keep you safe.”

Sonic smiled and scooted closer, resting his head on Tom’s side. “But I did pick the right person, Doughnut Lord.”

He shrugged. “Maybe. And maybe you are the right person to save this planet.”

“And what if I’m not?”

“And what if you are?” Tom wrapped his arm around Sonic’s shoulders and rubbed his arm. “I get it. This is scary; terrifying even, and it’s hard to have the weight of the world on your shoulders, but the world isn’t going to save itself and we have a one hundred percent chance of failing if we don’t try at all.”

Before Sonic could answer, his ears shot up as Miles walked towards them. Sonic jumped up and hurried to the fox, leaving Tom to stand up slower behind him. “Hey.” He grabbed Miles’ shoulders. “Are you okay? Are you ready to try again?”

He shook his head. “No… Let’s…” He trailed off and looked to Tikal. “Let’s eat?”

She stood from where she was kneeling and nodded. “Of course.” Miles went to her and they left the clearing, leaving Tom and Sonic alone again.

“He’s acting strange,” Tom said.

“He has every right to act strange. He’s probably the most stressed of any of us.” Tom shrugged and started gathering wood for a fire. By the time he had one going, Miles and Tikal had returned with some fruits and edible plants. No one spoke during the prep process. There seemed to be something between all of them. They all knew what they were doing was of the greatest importance, but the sense in the air was one of defeat. It seemed that none of them believed that this would go as smoothly as they wanted it to.

It was unspoken, but they all knew that the odds of them actually doing what they had set out to do were going down every second that they didn’t get it done. As the others cooked the soup, Sonic stared down at the emerald in hand. “Come on,” he whispered to it. “Please…” He gripped the emerald tightly, praying to some unknown figure. Who was Miles always swearing to? Gaia? “Whoever that is,” he grumbled. He turned to the others as Miles walked towards him with a woven leaf, handing him the soup.

He took graciously and sniffed at it. It didn’t smell like anything on Earth. It was somewhere between the smell of boiled vinegar and apples. “What is this?”

“Papai and Taek soup,” Miles said. Sonic cocked his head. He didn’t even remember those vegetables when he had been a kid. Of course, he had been like so many other children and hadn’t liked his vegetables.

 _What I wouldn’t give for a chili dog right about now,_ he thought. He lifted the soup to his lips and downed the broth. It was good, even if he didn’t recognize the flavors. There was something sour about the soup. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it was very unique considering the food he was used to on Earth. He nodded his appreciation to Miles and the fox smiled before walking back to Tikal. Everyone sat in silence, eating the strange meal. Tom seemed to be enjoying it fine.

“Hey Miles,” Sonic called. He looked up. “I really am sorry about the Emeralds.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not, though…” He put down the leaf, having finished his meal. “This is really important to you, and I want it to work because it has to work. This is your home.”

Miles’ ears drooped and he looked down at his own soup. “Sonic…”

“Hm?”

He moved the soup to stir it and agitate the ingredients. “I’m the one who should be apologizing.” He stared down at his leaf bowl. “You had a good life back on Earth and I know that you didn’t want to leave it.” He looked up at Sonic, his blue eyes shimmering with tears. “When this is all over, will you forgive me?”

“Of course he will!”

Everyone in the camp froze as Doctor Robotnik stepped into the clearing. Tom stood, discarding his soup on the floor. “What do you want, Robotnik?” he snapped.

The man grinned. “You know what I’m here for.” He gestured to Sonic. “Your little friend.” Sonic stood, but he was unsteady on his feet. He stumbled a little.

Tom pulled his gun. “How many times are we going to go through this? You can’t have him, Doctor.”

“I don’t think that’s for you to decide, Wachowski.” He stepped towards Tom. “Put that down, Thomas, before you hurt someone.”

“The only one getting hurt here is you.”

Robotnik’s smile grew wider. “If only that were true.” He motioned vaguely. The metal creature stepped from the trees, making a beeline towards Sonic. Robotnik just walked towards Tom, undeterred by the gun being aimed at him. “Metal, bring your organic counterpart. I’ll deal with Thomas.”

Sonic turned to the robot and fell into a defensive stance. His legs were wobbly and unsteady, but he ignored it. Before he could move, the robot ran towards him, rolling into a ball. Sonic smirked and went to dodge, but his legs wouldn’t respond fast enough. He shouted as Metal rammed into him, sending him flying backwards.

“Sonic!” Tom shouted. He ran towards Sonic. Robotnik grabbed his arm and spun him, throwing a punch to the face.

“Tom!”

“Finish this, Metal!”

The robot acknowledged the command and ran towards Sonic, tackling him to the ground. Everything felt like he was fighting underwater. His limbs were heavy and wouldn’t respond. The robot’s power was unmatched and before long, it had Sonic pinned on his back. He struggled weakly underneath the grip, but he could only move his head. “Tom…!” he called.

Tikal had joined the fray, trying to fight off Robotnik, but even Tom was having an issue struggling with the man. Eventually, Robotnik threw Tikal away and struggled the gun away from Tom. He kicked Tom behind the knee, sending him to his knees. Robotnik aimed the weapon.

“Stop!” Miles snapped. “You said no one would get hurt!”

Sonic’s blood went cold. “Miles…?”

But he was ignored. “You _promised!”_

Robotnik didn’t even look up. “I promised that Sonic wouldn’t get hurt, and I intend to keep my word. Sonic is no good to you, me or Mobius dead. I have no intention of harming him in any meaningful way.” The gun clicked. “Mr. Wachowski, however, was not included in our deal.”

Tom glared up at the fox, who dropped his ears and his tails fell to the ground.

“Take the hedgehog and go,” Miles pleaded. “That was the deal.”

Robotnik turned to Miles. The world seemed to stop moving. Sonic wished he could do something to stop this, but his whole body felt heavy. He clenched his fists. If anything happened to any of them… He’d have to go back to Earth and tell Maddie.

“You got what you came here for,” Miles said through clenched teeth.

Robotnik shrugged. “Very well. But I’m keeping this.” He pocketed the gun and nodded to Metal. “Let’s go.”

“Yes sir,” the robot said in a deep synthetic voice. It lifted Sonic from the ground and left, trailing behind its master. Sonic kept his eyes on Miles. He had never been betrayed before. It was a feeling he never wanted to feel again.

* * *

“What the hell?” Tom shouted once the others were gone. He paced the clearing, running his hands through his hair. Miles stood a little bit away from him, staring at the ground as if he could bear holes into the dirt just by looking hard enough. Tom wanted to go after them. He _had_ to go after them, but he didn’t have a weapon anymore and he didn’t know what to do about that robot. How could this have happened? They had defeated the Doctor once before! His hands trembled with anger and fear. Robotnik couldn’t be trusted not to hurt Sonic!

He stopped and turned his fury to Miles. “What were you thinking?” Miles flinched without responding. “Are you going to explain yourself? At all?” He raised his voice. It didn’t matter to him that the fox was just a kid. Not even a kid could be excused from something so monumentally stupid. He advanced on Miles. Tikal ran between them, holding her hands up.

“Please sir… He’s just a child.”

“Child?” Tom snapped, shaking his head. “I don’t _care!_ ” He pushed passed Tikal. “Explain!”

“My world is dying!” He looked up, trembling. “My world is dying, and those emeralds aren’t going to save it! We were all wrong. The Chaos Emeralds aren’t going to do squat to save Mobius!”

Tom laughed. “And you think that Robotnik will save your planet?”

“At least he has a plan!” He crossed his arms and looked away. “He promised Sonic wouldn’t get hurt; that he’d let him go when he was finished harnessing his power.”

“And you _believed_ him?” Tom ran his hands through his hair, ruffling it. “You must be the _dumbest_ smart person on this planet!”

Miles frowned and his tails wagged rapidly. “Just because you don’t care about Mobius…”

“Who said I don’t care?”

Miles kept his mouth shut, continuing to stare angrily in a different direction.

“He told you that, didn’t he?”

Miles kicked the ground.

“How can you be this stupid?”

“I want to save my home!” Miles shouted, finally looking to Tom. “Is that so wrong? Isn’t one life worth losing to save an entire planet? Why is Sonic’s safety more important than the lives of all the people on this world?” It was Tom’s turn to elect not to speak, lapsing the two into a tense silence.

It wasn’t Tom who broke the tension. Tikal stepped forward. Tom expected another lecture from another Mobian about saving their planet. He was sick of them saying that all their actions were justified based on the fact that desperate times called for desperate measures. He waited for her to come for him… but she didn’t. She went to Miles.

“The world isn’t worth saving if someone has to die to save it,” she whispered. Miles shook his head. “I understand that you want to save Mobius… We all do. No one here wants to see the world die, but not at the cost of someone’s life.”

“That’s naïve,” Miles argued.

“Maybe.” Tikal stepped up to him and put her hands on his shoulders. “You should have gone to us.”

He looked away, biting his bottom lip. He kicked the ground. “I just want to save Mobius. I don’t know why you guys don’t see it.”

“I do…”

Miles broke away from her. “This is your race’s doing,” he snapped. She took a step back. “If you guys had just left well enough alone…!”

“I am not responsible for the mistakes of my people!” It was the first time Tom had heard her be anything but quiet and meek. She stepped towards Miles. “And I am trying to fix it, but I do not want more blood on my people’s hands! Sonic will not be killed to fix my tribe’s mistakes!”

Tom looked between them and sighed. As mad as he was, he was also the most levelheaded one here; and the only adult, it seemed. “Alright.” He stepped towards them. “Let’s… talk about this as calmly as we can.” He knelt in front of them. He was fuming. It was a struggle to quell his anger enough to even think about this rationally, but he had to. They had to work together to undo Miles’ mistakes and stop whatever the world ending event was. “What did Robotnik say?”

Miles kicked the ground. “That he just wanted to harness Sonic’s powers to build some robots to fight Chaos.”

Tikal frowned. “I don’t think that will defeat Chaos,” she said. “Chaos is a different kind of power; power that cannot be defeated by brute force. That is why the Chaos Emeralds were needed. He is connected to them.”

“So, what do you propose we do?”

Tikal turned to the Chaos Emeralds. “I…” She sighed. “We must return to my tribe.”

“We’re going to the guys who wanted to capture Sonic to begin with?” Tom asked, flabbergasted. “Is that the best course of action?”

She sighed. “I am afraid it is the only course of action.”


	9. Can Anybody Hear Me?

> Chapter Nine: Can Anybody Hear Me?

Tom was having doubts with this plan. He had been having doubts since they got to Mobius, but now he really had doubts. It seemed that these kids were making it up as they went. There was no rhyme or reason to their methods. It was all just madness. They just rearranged every plan every time they hit a snag. This wasn’t how to save the world.

_How would you save the world, Thomas_? He tried to ignore the thoughts in his head telling him that he probably would be fumbling just as much as these kids were. Who was he to judge how they were struggling to save the world? He couldn’t imagine the kind of stress they were under. At the end of the day, he could go home if this all failed. These kids couldn’t. They had everything to lose.

Tikal was leading them through what looked to be an ancient civilization. The architecture here was incredible. Tom had always tried to not make snap judgements about people based on superficial things, but he hadn’t really thought that these animal-like beings were capable of such craftmanship. Was this what it was like to have every preconception challenged in a short amount of time? It was like getting mental whiplash. He believed one thing to be true, only for it to be proven wrong in a matter of seconds.

The creatures, who he could only assume were Echidna, that inhabited the area watched them wearily as they walked through what appeared to be the town square. None of them verbally acknowledged the group roaming through the square. Their angry grazes made the tension in the air palpable. Tom was extremely intimidated by all these small creatures and their angry glares. No one spoke until one that looked younger than the rest started running towards them.

“Tikal!” he shouted.

She held up her hand, halting the group. Tom bit the inside of his cheek to keep from saying anything. He didn’t like taking orders, but the reality of the situation was that he was the one who didn’t know what was going on.

Tikal bowed to the red echidna. “Knuckles,” she greeted.

Tom rubbed the bridge of his nose. Sonic, Knuckles. Why was it that the person with the oddest sounding name here was the one who was actually _from_ Earth? Which begged another question; why did all these animals speak English? Shouldn’t they have their own language? Most of these guys didn’t even have discernable accents. How was that possible? He shook his head. One mystery at a time.

Knuckles grabbed Tikal’s shoulders tightly, his eyes wide. “You shouldn’t be here. Your father—” He was cut off as a brown Echidna came storming down the walkway.

“Tikal!”

She turned to Knuckles, trembling. “You told him?”

“I had to!”

She quickly ran to intercept her dad. “Father… I…” Her explanation was cut off as the Echidna backhanded Tikal, sending her to the ground. Knuckles flinched, but it was Tom who stepped between the father and daughter. Maybe it wasn’t his place to interfere with their culture, but he wasn’t about to stand by and watch this happen. He blocked Tikal from her father before he could make another move against her.

The Chief looked up. “And you are?”

“Thomas Wachowski,” he said sternly.

The Chief glared at him. “You will move.”

“I will not.” Tom crossed his arms. “Whatever beef you have with your daughter maybe could wait until after we save the world?” He motioned to everyone standing there. “We have bigger problems than your petty argument.”

The Chief stammered, indignant. “Petty? You dare walk into my tribe’s land on our planet and deem our culture petty?”

“Father,” Tikal whispered. “This human may be brash, but—”

“Silence!” The group of people all froze. Even Tom’s spine shivered despite standing a few feet taller than Pachamanca. “This is _my_ tribe!” No one moved for several heartbeats. Tom didn’t know what to do or say. He didn’t know enough about this culture or this situation to butt in any further. Tikal looked petrified and Miles was looking anywhere but at anyone else.

Knuckles was the only one looking more concerned than frightened or angry at the situation. “Chief…”

“What?” Pachamanca barked.

Knuckles clenched his fists. “The human is right. Tikal took the emeralds because she believed it would be the best way to save Mobius.”

“ _We_ had the best way to save Mobius.”

Tom sighed. “Why does it matter who saves it as long as it gets saved?” Was this tribe so prideful that they’d let Mobius die if they weren’t the ones who could save it?

“You don’t understand,” Pachamanca said in a matter of fact tone. The anger in his voice was gone, replaced by levelheaded insanity.

“You’re right.” Tom squatted down and helped Tikal to her feet. “I don’t understand.” He focused on the younger Echidna. “Are you okay?” She nodded slowly, turning her eyes from Tom. He stood once she was steady on her feet. “I don’t understand the minutia of your culture and how your world ended up in this mess. What I _do_ understand is that a world is dying and the children that are trying to save it are in over their head and their terrified, and if this is how the adults are handling the end of the world then it’s no mystery why they’re scared out of their minds!”

Pachamanca stared up at Tom, dumbfounded. He could imagine that this was the first time the Chief had been yelled at in his life. Before he could say anything, Tikal ushered them down the pathway. “I brought the Emeralds back, father,” she assured him as they marched on. Tom spared a look back to see Knuckles speaking to the Chief before running after them. No one spoke again until they had passed into a clearing with a giant green emerald on an altar. Tikal whirled around on Knuckles the moment he followed them into the clearing.

“You told my father!”

Knuckles stopped in mid-step. “Tikal, I…”

“You told him about the emeralds!”

“You _stole_ the emeralds!” Knuckle clapped back. “You knew better!” he rubbed his head and scratched. “Those emeralds are what are going to save this planet! Isn’t that what you want?”

“They won’t,” Miles whispered.

Knuckles spun to him. “What… did you say?”

“The Chaos Emeralds won’t work,” he continued, even quieter. “We brought them to Sonic… the hedgehog, and he didn’t power them.” Miles reached into the bag on Tikal’s shoulders and yanked out one of the dead emeralds. He threw it at Knuckles. “Nothing. The emeralds are still as useless as always.” He leaned against a pillar and wrapped his tails into his lap.

Knuckles turned the gem in his hand shaking his head. “The hedgehog couldn’t power the emeralds.” His shoulders dropped and he swallowed hard. “If he couldn’t… now what?” He turned to Tikal. “Now what?”

Tom had a feeling that none of these kids knew the answer to that question. He shook his head and walked to the largest emerald. Oddly enough, the first thought that he had upon seeing the gem was how much money a thing like that would sell for back on earth. He put his hands in his pocket. “What are you doing, Tom?” he whispered to his reflection. He didn’t know what he was doing. Why was he here and what could he possibly do? “What is this?” he called back to the others.

“The Master Emerald,” Knuckles answered.

“What does it do?”

Tikal waved her “It’s supposed to control the Chaos Emeralds.”

Knuckles shook his head. “But the Chaos Emeralds have been dead for so long that no one really knows how. The ones who knew the relationships between the Emeralds and this Chaos creature are largely all dead. Including my parents.” He rolled his eyes and tossed the gem between his hands, sitting down beside Miles. “Why?”

Tom shrugged. “I don’t know, but we aren’t going to figure this out by moping here.” He paced in front of the large green rock. There was something here. There had to be. “We aren’t going to get anything done without Sonic.”

“You just want to go save him,” Miles grumbled. “Robotnik still seems like our best option.”

Tom sat down on the steps and held his head in his hands. What were they doing? “Now what?”

* * *

Maddie didn’t know how long they were in that lab looking for something that clearly wasn’t there. Stone was standing by the window overlooking space away from the earth. The lab was more ransacked than when they had gotten there and neither one of them had found anything. Maddie was oddly relieved that they had come up empty handed. If they didn’t find anything, then everything could go back to normal; or whatever passed as normal now.

“Agent Stone.”

“There has to be something here!” He slammed his palms on a destroyed workstation. “The government didn’t just lock this place down for no reason! There has to be!” He shook his head, trembling. “We didn’t just come up here for nothing!”

Maddie wrung her hands together, looking down at the ground. She almost pitied the man. It was like he had been given purpose in the job with Robotnik, and now that the Doctor was gone, Stone had nothing left in his life, so he was trying to find some sort of reason. “We should go.”

“You go,” he whispered.

“There’s only one ring.”

“I know.” He looked back at her. “I won’t leave until I search every inch of this place. Whatever’s here should help me get back to Earth.”

She stepped forward. “And what if there’s nothing here?” She motioned to the destroyed lab. “Will you just live out the rest of your life alone up here?”

Stone didn’t answer. Instead, he moved to the only working computer in the room. Working was a bit of a stretch. There was really just a blinking light on the CPU that indicated the power still ran to the thing, but the screen was destroyed. Stone sat heavily on one of the chairs in the room and cradled his head in his hands. Maddie reached into her pocket and pulled out the ring. If this was what Stone wanted, then she should let him have it. He probably wanted something to control in his life and wanted something back that had been taken from him. She should let him die alone up here if that was what he wanted to do.

But she couldn’t bring herself to throw the ring and go home. She’d be condemning him to death if she did that. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself or look up at the sky and think about him up here. “Maybe when Sonic and Tom are back, we can come back up here. Sonic will want to know about this anyway.” She didn’t think that Sonic or Tom would be too keen on working with Robotnik’s right hand man, but she’d say anything to get him to come back to Earth with her.

He shook his head.

“Please Agent Stone. There’s nothing up here.”

Rustling caught her attention and it took every ounce of self-control not to scream. A dark figure stood in the doorway. It was backlit by the red emergency lights that had been their only company. The outline of the figure was distinctly not human. The figure stood motionless, watching them. Maddie coughed softly and Stone spun around to look at the creature.

“You… shouldn’t be here,” the thing whispered. Its voice was chilling and hoarse. IT sounded unused and almost painful. “No one… No one should be here.” Maddie stepped towards the creature slowly, trying to not make any sudden movements. One slip up and this whole thing could go south. Whatever this thing was, it had lived here a long time.

Stone, unfortunately, didn’t have any of Maddie’s tact. He stepped forward with broad shoulders and started towards the door. “What are you?” he asked without any pretense or carefulness befitting this situation.

The creature took a step back before turning and running, leaving them alone in the lab once more. Maddie glared at Stone but his expression was a mix between confused and overwhelming joy. “There’s someone here,” he whispered.

What bothered Maddie the most was that this thing, this creature, was alive up here. How long had it been here and how had it survived this long? Was it even alive, or was it a robot? A few months ago, she wouldn’t think that a robot could be that sophisticated, but after everything she had seen, she wouldn’t put it past a fifty year old robot being able to have a voice hoarse from disuse. “Should we go after it?”

Stone nodded. “We should. It’s the only think here that might could tell us what went wrong on this colony.”

“Don’t you think we shouldn’t know what went wrong here?”

Stone turned to her, cocking his head. “I don’t see why we wouldn’t. We came this far. We should go all the way.”

Maddie fiddled with her hands, intertwining her fingers. “If we don’t know what happened, all we can get in trouble for is trespassing right now. If we figure it out, then we will be in a lot more trouble for lot more things.”

He shrugged. “Why does that matter?”

“You may be used to being in trouble with the government, but I’m not.” She shook her head and stepped away from him. “We shouldn’t be here!”

“I told you that you can leave,” Stone said as he walked out of the room. “Now that we know that there’s something on this colony, you can leave.”

Maddie knew now that Stone had a better chance of getting back to Earth now that they knew that there was something roaming these halls. She was almost willing to let him go and do whatever he wanted to do and just forget this whole ordeal. But, if she was honest with herself, she was curious. What was this creature? Was it alive? And if it was, then how? She hated that she was now invested. But she didn’t want to tell him that she was curious.

“No, I’m not leaving you up here to die.” She stepped out into the hallway and sighed. “I hope Tom’s doing better on his little outing.”

* * *

Sonic opened his eyes. He was groggy and in pain, but he couldn’t move. Everything felt like it was under water. “I hate water,” he mumbled, his voice slurring. His head was swimming and his vision was blurry. He squeezed his eyes shut as his body trembled. “What’s going on?” He opened his eyes again, thankful to find that his vision had cleared some.

Robotnik was sitting at a desk in front of a large screen. The metal hedgehog stood motionless, soulless, watching them with cold red eyes.

Robotnik turned in his chair and smiled. “Hello, my little blue friend! You’re awake!”

Sonic didn’t know how to respond to that. He seemed happy that Sonic was awake, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly why. He tried to move but his arms were strapped down and there were wires hooked up to his body. “What are you doing?”

“Powering my machines with you. It’s not too complicated.” He stood from his chair. “You are an exceptional creature, Sonic. Beautiful even.” He grabbed one of the wires. “What I wouldn’t give to be so naturally powerful.” He slammed his hand on the table Sonic was strapped to. The sound echoed through the room. “How is it fair that something so small can be so powerful? Something so stupid and inept? What cosmic force thinks that this is funny?” He shook his head with a laugh. “You know that I spent my whole life evaluating a system where brawn was more important than brains, and just when I thought I had toppled that system, you and that _stupid_ law enforcement agent come into my life and challenge everything I’ve worked for!” He put both his hands on the table and shook his head with a laugh.

Sonic cocked his head. Again, he was at a loss for words. “I’m sorry?” Was he supposed to be upset that he had shattered a worldview of a madman? His very existence shattered the worldview of a lot of people. He had seen people see his existence and then have to come to terms with it.

Robotnik shook his head. “There’s no need for you to apologize.” He pushed off the table and turned to the metal hedgehog. “That system that told the strong that they could bully the weak will always be there and there will always be people like me who will bully the strong. That’s why we’re here, Sonic the Hedgehog; to challenge the notion that you get to be king of the hill just because you were born with more power.”

Sonic looked over to the robot. Blue sparks moved along the wire from his body to its cold metal form. “Does that make you the good guy here? The guy who straps kids to a table is supposed to be the hero in this situation?”

Robotnik walked over to his creation and put his hand on the robot. “I’m going to save Mobius. Doesn’t that make me the hero?”

“With that robot?”

“With as many robots I can make in the next twenty four hours.”

Sonic allowed his eyes to close. Did he really think that he could save the world with Robots? Robots that were powered by his own powers? He cracked an eye open. “Hey, Eggman?”

Robotnik clenched his fist. “Yes?”

“How do you plan on saving the planet with robots?”

“The world has taught us many things, hedgehog. It has taught us that the smart people aren’t supposed to be the heroes. The smart ones are supposed to stand in the back and advise. With these machines, though, I’m about to prove to your stupid little planet that I can save it with brains and not just dumb strength.”

Sonic nodded. “And then what?”

“And then I will teach Earth the exact same lesson.”

Sonic narrowed his eyes. That was great and all, but there was one problem; Earth didn't need saving.


	10. Chaos Control

> Chapter Ten: Chaos Control

Maddie help up a small flashlight as she walked behind Stone. He didn’t seem like he was used to being in charge of anything, but he was doing well enough. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what was lurking through the space colony. Whatever it was, it couldn’t possibly be an any stable condition to talk to them and tell them what happened here.

“Agent Stone?”

He stopped and turned to her. “Yes?”

He seemed cordial enough, but Maddie was starting to get uneasy around him. The longer they went without finding the creature roaming the halls, the more agitated he was getting. Maybe she could understand if this was some life’s work that he was trying to complete, but this wasn’t it. This was some new goal that he had grabbed when he had lost Robotnik. “What do you plan on doing to this thing if we find it?”

He shrugged. “I plan on finding out what happened on this station.”

Maddie bit her lip. She wasn’t sure she wanted to ask the next question, but she needed to know the answer. “Is there a reason why you care so much about the Space Colony?”

“This is something the government doesn’t want us to know,” he said as he started walking again. “Anything the G.U.N. is trying to hide from the general public is worth knowing.” He paused at another door and motioned her to shine the light in the room.

She did. “G.U.N.?”

“Guardian Unit of Nations,” Stone explained, backing out of the room after confirming that there was nothing in the room. “It’s a branch of the government that most civilians don’t even know about. Top notch group that Robotnik and I worked for together. We were the people they called in when things got a little _too_ weird for normal government agents.”

“That’s… great.” She was at a loss for words. This wasn’t how she had thought her life was going to end up. Tom had brought all of this craziness into their lives, and she loved him more than anything, but standing here in _space_ chasing down something that she didn’t understand with someone who she actively feared and had actively tried to kill her husband was one step too far.

A noise caught their attention and they turned. The creature was back, watching them from a raised platform. “You…” Its voice was still raspy. “You work for G.U.N.?”

Maddie shined the light up at the creature, but it ducked behind a metal crate before she could get a good look at it.

“Worked,” Stone clarified. “Past tense. I was fired.”

“You didn’t stop working for them voluntarily?”

Maddie moved the light from the platform, and it poked its head back out.

“You mentioned Robotnik.”

“You’ve been listening,” Maddie said. It made sense that the creature would be spying on them.

“I don’t get many visitors up here. In fact, you two are the first in God knows how long.”

Stone stepped forward. “Yes, I mentioned Robotnik. I used to work with him.” He paused. There was a moment a silence between the trio before Stone spoke again. “You are Shadow, right? Project Shadow?”

“Who’s asking?”

He put his hand over his heart. “My name is Anders Stone.”

The creature stepped towards the edge of the outcropping. It sat down and dangled its legs off the edge, leaning forward. “Stone?” There was something in the way it said the name that unsettled Maddie. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Yes, I am Project Shadow.” He jumped down and Maddie flinched back.

Now that she could finally get a good look at the creature, she could see that he really was a hedgehog similar in bone structure and body to Sonic. Instead of the royal blue that Sonic was, this one was black with red streaks and highlights. Maddie took several steps back. There was something odd about this one. He moved without the high energy of Sonic. She had never seen a creature like Sonic move with such deliberate anger.

“Your surname is Stone?” Shadow asked.

Stone nodded and in a flash of yellow streaks, Shadow had Stone on the ground, holding his shirt tightly in his gloved fists. Maddie let out a shout and backed away from the two.

“I see you are angry with me,” Stone said in a calm voice.

Maddie was shaking and she couldn’t fathom how he could be this calm. She knew how powerful Sonic was. Shadow didn’t seem like he was willing to take prisoners in this situation.

“If you would allow me the explain—”

“There is no explanation! Why the hell are you here?” Shadow grabbed Stone’s shirt and shook him. “Why have you come?”

“I am trying to tell you!” Stone snapped.

Shadow’s ears went to his head and he bared his fangs, but he stepped off of Stone and retreated back into the shadows, eying the humans with as much distrust as he could muster in a single expression.

Stone stood and patted down the wrinkles from his clothes. “Thank you.”

A soft grunt was the only reply he got.

“I am here for answers. My own grandfather died on this Space Colony.” He stepped towards where Shadow had retreated. The hedgehog let out a soft warning growl. Stone wasn’t deterred. “My father drove himself mad trying to find out what happened here.”

“So, you came here looking for the answers your father couldn’t find,” Shadow deduced. He stepped out from his hiding spot. “I hate to disappoint, but there are no answers here.”

“You recognized my surname,” Stone argued. “There _has_ to be answers here! What are you? What is this Space Colony? What the hell happened here?” The volume of his voice rose with each question and his hands trembled.

Shadow held his ground and his expression darkened. “You don’t want to know the answers to those questions.”

Maddie clenched her fists. It was slotting together. No one would put up with Doctor Robotnik without expecting something out of the relationship. “You—You worked with Robotnik because of his connections to this Colony, didn’t you?”

Stone nodded slowly. “Yes, I did. Working with Robotnik got me closer to finding out about the A.R.K., but he didn’t get me close enough. Now I’m here and I want answers. What happened here?” he asked again.

Shadow jumped onto the metal crate and crossed his leg over his other. “You want the truth?” He motioned to the dark corridors. “the truth is something I’ve been looking for, too. What would possess a government body to come up here and murder a bunch of scientists?” He leaned towards Stone. “And everything was led by one Commander Stone.”

Those words hung between the gathered trio. Stone didn’t seem to be staggered by the words, but Maddie felt her chest tighten. How could this be happening? And, more importantly, how could she be involved in any of this? Her life had been normal up until her husband had decided to get involved with helping a little blue alien escape the clutches of some government whack job. This had never been _her_ fight and now she was standing in the room with a hedgehog with a grudge and a mad desperate for answers.

She almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Nothing made sense any more and she was supposed to act like it did.

Stone was the first to recover. “No, my grandfather was an employee on the A.R.K. He didn’t work for G.U.N.”

Shadow shook his head. “I remember everyone from that day. Commander Stone led the team of government officials that slaughtered the scientists here.” He shrugged. “You came for answers, and you got your answers. You may leave.”

Stone stepped back, dumbfounded, and Maddie stepped forward. This poor creature had been up here alone for five times longer than Sonic had lived in the forest. The very fact that he was so calm was nothing short of a miracle. “Do you want to stay up here? Alone?” She motioned to the window. “You can come back to Earth with us.”

Shadow didn’t answer for a long moment. He jumped from the metal crate. “Why would I want to go to Earth? That planet took everything from me. We were happy up here. And the government came up here and ripped that away.” He shook his head. “No, I want to stay up here with the ghosts. I want—”

A gunshot cut off whatever he was about to say. Maddie screamed as Shadow collapsed on the ground. Stone stood over them, aiming his gun at Shadow. The gun barrel trembled in his hands. “You—You are coming to Earth,” he said, his voice shaking.

Maddie recovered from her shock and hurried to Shadow’s side. He was unconscious and she put her hand over the wound to slow the bleeding.

Stone stepped forward. “If my grandfather came onto this A.R.K. looking for something, _you_ must be what he was looking for!” He continued speaking as if the hedgehog could hear him. He turned to Maddie. “The rings, please.”

“This isn’t what I signed up for,” she snapped.

Stone nodded carefully, holding out a hand. “I know, but we got what we came here for.” He nodded to Shadow. “Bring him.”

* * *

Miles had lived his entire life in this post-apocalyptic Mobius. Everyone who was old enough to remember what it was like before Chaos arrived assured him that their world had been beautiful. He wanted to see the world in its glory and he didn’t think that it was an unreasonable goal.

But as he listened to Tom and Knuckles argue about the best way to save the planet, he felt that he had bit off way more than he could chew. He clenched his fists and his ears fell flat against his head. His eyes closed tight and he tried to drown them out with his own thoughts. Maybe they weren’t meant to save the world. Maybe it _was_ time to start evacuating.

 _It’s too late,_ he thought. They didn’t have time to go to Central City and demand an evacuation of the planet. Then there were the other countries that would laugh at them for suggesting it. And where would they go? Earth? He wanted to scoff at the idea. Earth would reject them if they tried. They didn’t have time to scout new planets to relocate. It was either stop Chaos or die.

He stood. “That’s enough!” he snapped, his tails flicking. Tom and Knuckles stopped their arguing and turned to him. He wanted to shrink back from their gazes. He was the youngest one there. Only eight years old. They had to have their doubts about whether or not he could save the planet. “We have all seven Chaos Emeralds,” he continued, motioning to the Master Emerald. “And we have the Master. There’s no reason we can’t save the planet without Sonic. Robotnik may have to answer to our prayers, but if he doesn’t, we’re going to have to save ourselves.” He turned to Knuckles. “You have to know _something_ about the Emeralds. Why are they drained?”

Knuckles sighed and picked up one of the greyed-out gems. “They’re drained because Chaos, who used to be sealed in the Master Emerald, took their power.” He tossed the emerald to Miles and he grabbed it. It was cold to the touch. “The theory is that Sonic, with his powers, could restore them, but if what you say is true, then we were wrong.”

“What if we weren’t?” Tom asked.

Miles’ ears shot up. He wanted to tell the human to butt out. Tom didn’t know anything and he was nothing more than dead weight. “What?” he asked, deadpan.

Tom ignored the attitude. “Sonic said that he was nervous when he tried to power the Emeralds.”

“So?”

Tom sighed. “His powers are based on his emotions. If his concentration broke, or his emotions had wavered, then he wouldn’t have been able to complete it.”

“Oh.” Miles’ ears drooped.

“Yeah, so maybe if you had let him try again, we wouldn’t be in this situation, hm?”

Miles looked down at the emerald and clenched his fist around it. Was this his fault? Was Sonic not being here going to be the end of them? Had he doomed their planet in the act of trying to save it? He tossed the gem at Tom and turned to leave. Tom wasn’t the useless one here; he was. In his mission to save the planet, he was going to end up destroying it.

He stopped as Tom jogged up behind him. “You screwed up, kid.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.” He didn’t need this human to tell him how badly he had screwed them all over.

Tom stepped in front of him and crossed his arms. “What are you going to do now?”

“What?” He wagged his tails. “It doesn’t matter. We’re done here. We lost.”

“So, we’re putting our faith in Doctor Robotnik to save this planet?”

Miles looked away and crossed his arms. “Go home,” he grumbled.

“What?”

“Go home! You don’t need to be here! You have a home to go back to, so why don’t you go?” He pushed past Tom. “Just get out of here while you still can.” He didn’t want another death on his hands. Before he could storm away, he was picked up from behind. Indignant, Miles struggled against Tom’s grip as he held him up. “Let me go!”

“You really are just a kid, aren’t you?”

He looked away.

“I’m not leaving, and neither are you. We have no reason to believe that the world is doomed. Sonic is still alive, and so are you.” He put Miles back onto the ground and patted his head. Miles scowled. “We’re not giving up; not while I’m here.”

Miles looked to Knuckles and Tikal. Who did this man think he was? Just because he was a cop, that didn’t mean he knew enough about any of this to say things like that. Miles didn’t want to give up, but what choice did they have? What could they possibly do? Every plan that they had tried had failed and the only other plan that they had left was to let a madman with robots stop Chaos. “Any ideas, Mr. Cop?”

Tom shrugged and deflated. “No.”

Miles scoffed. That was to be expected.

“But I don’t know enough. You _do._ What are our options?”

“Take the Emeralds to Robotnik,” Knuckles suggested from where he stood. He had gathered the Emeralds into Tikal’s pouch. “He knows how to harness the hedgehog’s powers. If anyone is going to figure out how to transfer the power into the Chaos Emeralds.”

“No,” Tom said before Mile could say anything. “That’s a bad idea. Giving that man any more power would not go well.”

“What do you have against him anyway?” Knuckles asked.

“He tried to _kill_ me and my wife. The last thing we want is for him to get more powerful.”

“Then what options do we have? He knows the most about Sonic’s powers and he’s the one who has harnessed it before.” Knuckles shrugged. “If you have a better idea, I’d love to hear it.”

Miles turned to Tom and crossed his arms. He wanted to hear it to. Tom was going to reject any idea they had about working with Robotnik, but this was literally the end of the world. They had crossed the threshold and it was time to get dirty.

Before Tom could offer up another solution, a long alarm sounded from the main square. Knuckles went as pale as an echidna could go and Tikal put her hand to her mouth. “What?” Tom asked.

Knuckles shook his head and tossed the Emeralds to Tom. “Get those out of here, _now!”_

“What’s going on?”

Knuckles ran to the Master Emerald. “You guys need to get out of here!”

“What’s happening?”

“Chaos,” Tikal whispered. “Chaos is here.”

Miles’ blood went cold. He didn’t remember the day that Chaos had attacked his own home. The day that his entire family had been wiped out. Or maybe he had been trying to forget that day. He shook his head, trying to clear it. His legs were frozen to the ground and he couldn’t move save for the trembling in his hands and the sickening feeling of dread in his stomach.

Tom grabbed his arms. “Let’s go, kid!”

“I… I can’t…” He shook his head, trembling.

Tom didn’t wait for him to gather his wits. He was picked up and suddenly Tom was running with him like one would carry a small child. Tikal led them through the tunnels towards the city center. “We’ll be safe there!” she assured them.

“N-no! We won’t!” Miles cried, squirming in Tom’s arms. All he could see was gnashing teeth. All he could hear were the screams. All he could feel was the breath leaving his lungs as he fought to claw his way to the surface.

“Woah…! Settle down there!” Tom gasped.

“High ground!” Miles shouted. “We need to get to high ground! _Now!”_

Tom looked to Tikal and she shrugged, changing direction. Tom seemed annoyed at how slow he had to run to stay in stride with her, but he said nothing to her about going faster. Miles buried his face in Tom’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay,” he whispered to himself. “It’ll be okay.” His mother’s voice came through his memories, trying to calm him down. Tom patted him on the back as Miles clawed to cling to the man’s shirt.

The memories came flooding back like the water that had devastated his home. His mother had grabbed him and held him tighter. _“Chaos is power…”_ she had whispered, rocking him back and forth and hugging him tightly. _“Chaos is power."_


	11. Controlled Chaos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said that this is a darker version of the Sonic Movie Universe. Time to make good on that promise!

> Chapter Eleven: Controlled Chaos

Chaos was released onto Mobius three days before Miles’ fourth birthday. He had told Sonic that he didn’t remember his parents, but as the sirens rang out in the Echidna civilization, he was back as a kit, sitting outside in the yard, building something that he couldn’t recall out of sticks.

There were no sirens back then. It was back before they needed sirens to warn Mobians of a Chaos attack.

The only warning sign that something was wrong were the heavy storm clouds that had gathered in seconds and the thundering sound of rushing water. And the screaming.

Miles’ mother grabbed him, holding him tightly as she ran towards their house. They didn’t know what was happening. The legend of Chaos had faded in the background, behind more plausible legends. They ran towards the house. If they had known what an attack meant, she wouldn’t have taken him into the house.

She held her son close to her chest as the entire house shook. Water started flooding in. She picked him up and started for the door, but it was too late. The mistakes had already been made. As she ran, the house started collapsing in on itself. As a beam fell, she hurled Miles from her arms and into the water away from her. He landed with a splash as the beam pinned her beneath the surface.

Miles struggled to the surface, thrashing. He didn’t know how to swim. No one had taught him. They had thought that they would have more time. “Mom!” he shouted. The water was rising. “ _Mom!”_ He took a deep breath and went back under. There she was, struggling to free herself from the beam. He screamed and bubbles flew from his mouth. She looked up at him and motioned him to go. The water was rushing, pulling him out of the house but he struggled against it, reaching for his mother.

He wasn’t a strong swimmer. The water pulled him away and out of the house. He struggled against the torrent, screaming and clawing. Water filled his mouth and his nose and stung his eyes. Every once in a while, the waves would throw him to the surface, and he would gasp for half breaths before he was thrown back under the water.

Eventually, he passed out, or he had fallen into a shock induced stupor, because the next thing he knew, he was lying in the middle of a decimated forest. Trees were knocked over and uprooted. Puddles surrounded him, but most of the water had receded, leaving the surrounding area silent and in ruins.

“There’s a survivor here!” a voice shouted. Miles opened his eyes in time to see a red figure standing over him. “It’s going to be okay, kid.”

Miles closed his eyes and shook his head. No, it wouldn’t. It would never be okay again.

“It’s going to be alright.”

Miles gasped and opened his eyes. Suddenly, he was no longer lying in the middle of a destroyed forest. He was back in Tom’s arms, whimpering like a scared puppy. They were on a hilltop overlooking the town center. The waters were coming.

Tom stood, handing Miles to Tikal. “I’m going back.”

“What?” she asked, her eyes wide. “Don’t! That’s suicide!”

“I’m a police officer, and this is a disaster. Those people down there need help.” He started to leave, but Miles lunged at him, grabbing his pant leg.

“D-don’t!” he begged. All he could see was his mother clawing for breath under the water. Tom would be just like her. “You’ll be killed!”

Tom looked down at him and frowned. “This is something I have to do.”

“You’ll drown!”

He sighed and looked to Tikal. “Watch him.” He picked Miles up off the ground and ruffled his yellow fur. “I’ll be okay, kid. You stay here.”

Miles shook his head. If Tom died, Sonic wouldn’t forgive him. But he couldn’t go down there. He couldn’t face the water. All he could do was watch Tom recede down the hill towards the Echidna scrambling to their hiding places.

* * *

Tom knew how ridiculous this was. Even as he was ankle deep in water that was steadily rising, he knew how much of a bad idea this was; but he had made an oath to serve and protect, and just because these guys weren’t human, or on Earth, that didn’t mean he could let them die when he could potentially do something about it.

He ran through the water, shouting at the Echidna to get to high ground. Most didn’t question him and they scattered towards the hills beyond the settlement. A child ran by him and tripped, splashing face first into the rising water. Tom bent down and helped the child to her feet. “Go,” he said, trying to sound gentle despite the flood. She nodded and ran.

“Who do you think you are?”

Tom groaned and turned to see the Chief walking towards him, unconcerned with the flood waters. “I’m trying to help your people!”

“My people are warriors! We do not run from a fight, and we will not abandon our ancenstoreal home!”

Tom resisted the urge to punch the Echidna. That wouldn’t help their present situation. “I understand your reluctance, but this isn’t a fight, this is a natural disaster. You and your people need to leave.”

Pachamanca slammed the blunt end of his spear through the water and onto the stone path below. The fleeing Echidna nearest to them stopped in response. “You are not in charge here, human! This beast is our monster and we will face it.”

“And how do you plan on beating it?” Tom asked. He didn’t even know what the beast looked like. All he saw was water. What was there even to fight? The rising water?

“That is not your concern. Flee if you wish, human, but we will stand our ground!”

Tom cursed under his breath, but he wasn’t about to waste his time trying to help someone who didn’t want it. If he was willing to die fighting water, Tom wasn’t about to stop him. They didn’t have a lot of time to waste. The water was already halfway up his shin and it didn’t look like it was slowing any time soon.

As he ran into a house to encourage the ones left to flee, a howl shook him to his core. The scream was unlike anything he had ever heard before. It was haunting and it reverberated in his gut, shaking his skeleton. “What the—?”

He didn’t have to wait long before he could see the creature. His stomach dropped. The serpentine monster was the size of a skyscraper. Its massive head loomed over the clearing. Tom’s stomach dropped and for a moment, he was petrified. _This_ is what they had come to fight. _This_ was the thing that Sonic was supposed to defeat! Heck, no!

Tom turned and shouted into the house, screaming at the residents to get out and follow him. The water was rising and they were running out of time. The creature roared again. Tom tried to ignore it. He tried to ignore the rising water and the rising fear in his chest. Suddenly he felt he was over his head; and not just because he the water would soon be over his head.

The wave came without warning. A howl came just before and he had a mere second before he was pummeled by the water. He rolled with the wave as it slammed him onto the stone path and against the temple. Tom closed his eyes and tried to remain calm even as his lungs began screaming at him. Miles’ words broke through his desperate thoughts. _You’ll drown._

This is what he meant. Chaos wasn’t just a creature of pure chaos, it was made of water. No wonder that city that they had come across had been destroyed by water. Tom squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn’t hold his breath any longer when the water receded. He fell from the wall to his knees. The water was up to his chest on his knees. This was a mistake. He should have stayed up on the hills with Miles and Tikal.

That didn’t matter now. He got to his feet and ran. Pachamanca was gathering warriors on the upper levels of the temple and he ran up the steps to stand with the Echidna.

“You’re still alive,” Pachamanca observed.

Tom shrugged. “For now.” He motioned to the monster heading their way. “That’s Chaos?”

“Yes.”

“What is it here for?”

“The Master Emerald.”

Tom’s blood ran cold. The emerald? All of this for that rock? And then he realized that Knuckles was still guarding it. “How do we stop it?”

His answer came in a shout and the Echidna jumped into action, leaping from the steps and gliding towards the beast. Tom watched in bewilderment. If a two tailed fox could fly, he figured that this shouldn’t be a surprise, but it was. He shook his head. “You are facing a monster made of water and pure chaos and you’re going to get hung up on gliding echidna?” He laughed at the absurdity of the situation before he ran down the steps and dove into the water.

It was high enough that he couldn’t run on the ground anymore. He propelled himself through the water towards the tunnel leading to the Master Emerald. It was under water. He closed his eyes. “I can do this.” He took a deep breath and went under.

There were few things that the majority of humanity could agree on but diving into a tunnel without an air source was something that most people could agree was terrifying. And stupid. Tom didn’t care. He felt his way into the tunnel and pulled his body towards the other end. It felt so much longer as his lungs ached for air. His fingers clawed at the wall was the current wanted to drag him back. He wouldn’t let it. He couldn’t.

It was about halfway through that he began to realize the mistake he had made. He closed his eyes and clawed faster, but it was taking all his willpower not to open his mouth and draw in the breath. His fingers couldn’t find purchase in the rockface anymore.

Just as his grip began to slacken, a hand grabbed his wrist. Something was shoved into his mouth and he took in a long breath the moment he realized it was a rebreather. He gasped into the device as his head cleared. Knuckles nodded and dragged him the rest of the way and they surfaced together.

“That was the dumbest thing I have ever seen!” Knuckles shouted.

Tom still didn’t have enough breath to retort; but something else kept him from saying anything. He agreed. It had been stupid. He grabbed the rebreather and took several long breaths of pure oxygen before he took it off and handed it back. “I came back for you. That thing is here for the Master Emerald.”

Knuckles shrugged the best he could while treading water. “I know.”

“And you _stayed?”_

“Protecting the Master Emerald is my duty, Chaos or no Chaos.”

“You can’t protect anything against that thing,” Tom said. He was beginning to see why Miles thought this was hopeless. What could they possibly do against this beast? “How do we stop it?”

Knuckles shrugged again and dove back under. Tom followed him to the shrine. Knuckles was moving the Emerald. They couldn’t swim with that thing and he wished he could convey that without sounding like someone who had completely given up. Not long ago, he was the only one who didn’t want to give up. Now he was starting to realize how in over their head they really were. Miles had said Chaos was a god and Tom had understood what that meant. Or, at least, he had thought he did. This… this was something he had never been trained for. No amount of police training would get anyone on Earth ready to face this creature.

And then there was Sonic. They were expecting Sonic, a child, to fight Chaos and save the world. Sonic had just barely fended off a mad scientist. He couldn’t save a planet! He couldn’t fight a skyscraper-sized monster made of water. This was insane. This entire mission had started out as a fever dream and now it wasn’t even that. It was so impossible that it was more crushing than the rising water around them.

Knuckles grabbed the Emerald and got it to the top of the shrine cover, standing on top of it above the water.

Tom surfaced as well and stood beside him. “Now what?”

Knuckles looked to the sky and shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Chaos was on top of the village now. Its watery tentacles tore through what was left of the village, ripping apart their homes and their temple. Knuckles stood stoic. The only indication that he was moved by the destruction of his home was the trembling in his clenched fists. Tom didn’t know this guy well, but he supposed he hadn’t known any of them well. He placed a hand on Knuckles’ shoulder. “It’ll be okay.”

“No, it won’t,” Knuckles said, shrugging Tom’s hand off him. “It’s the end of the world.”

Tom nodded. Yes. It felt like the end of the world.

Chaos whipped its head around and focused its massive, reptilian eyes on them. It opened its mouth and bellowed.

“You should go,” Knuckles said. “This isn’t your fight.”

“I know it’s not.” He stood a little taller. “But I won’t leave you to face this alone.”

Knuckles didn’t take his eyes off of Chaos. It was on the other side of the village and was making its way towards them. It was tall enough to be seen on the other side of the tunnel. “That monster killed my parents; my entire family.” He shook his head. “I always knew it would come to finish the job.”

Tom didn’t ask the question he wanted to. Why not just let the monster have the emerald? He assumed the answer was that the creature would be even more unstoppable than it was now.

“You don’t have to die for our tribe.”

“Neither do you,” Tom said, firmly planting himself beside Knuckles.

“What about Sonic?”

Tom shrugged. “He’ll understand,” he said, though he knew Sonic wouldn’t.

Chaos roared and raised a limb at them and Tom closed his eyes, bracing for impact. He knew he was being stupid, but he was also being realistic. There was no way he was surviving this even if had tried to run. Leaving Miles and Tikal on the hill had been what had sealed his fate and he needed to accept that.

The impact didn’t come. Tom opened his eyes to see a blue creature hovering several feet in front and above them. Blue lightening crackled around them. Chaos roared angrily at the new challenger. “Sonic?” Tom whispered. Something was off about the hedgehog-like thing in front of them. It was too sleek, too metallic to be alive.

It turned to them, its red eyes flashing. “Go.” Its voice was deep with a slight reverb to it.

“Where’s Sonic?”

“My living counterpart is safe,” Metal said. “You are not safe. You should not be worrying about him while your life is in danger.”

Tom rolled his eyes. Robots.

Metal lifted a hand towards Chaos and lightening struck the beast. It howled and sent a massive wave towards the robotic hedgehog, and Tom and Knuckles as collateral. Metal jumped in front of them and raised his hands. The wave parted over some sort of forcefield.

“I told you to leave.”

Tom sighed. “Fine, fine.” He nodded to Knuckles and the two grabbed the Master Emerald. There was one problem. They couldn’t transport the gem in the flood.

Metal seemed to notice their issue and Tom could swear that if Metal _could_ sigh in annoyance, it would. It waved its hand, and, in a moment, a small robotic ferry appeared; vaguely egg-shaped. As Metal flew off to handle Chaos, Tom and Knuckles loaded the emerald in it before climbing in after it.

“What is that thing?” Knuckles asked as the ship sped off.

“One of Robotnik’s machines.” He watched as Metal expertly held Chaos off. It didn’t look like a fight the metal hedgehog could win, but it was holding its own against the monstrosity.

“And we don’t trust this man?”

Tom bit his lip. No, he didn’t trust Robotnik, but if this was what the man could do with some of Sonic’s powers… He shook his head, banishing the idea. It was a ruse. It _had_ to be.

The ship landed well away from the flood and the battle. Robotnik was standing there, watching his creation and the behemoth duel. “Ah, Wachowski. You’re welcome.”

“For what?”

“Saving your life, of course.” Robotnik smiled. “I could have just let Metal fight this beast without bothering to save you.”

Tom dismounted the ship. “Where’s Sonic?”

Robotnik waved his hand dismissively. “The hedgehog is fine,” he said. He turned back to the battle. “Now that I’ve seen what we’re up against, I know more about what I need to make. We’re running out of time.”

“Tell us something we don’t know,” Knuckles said quietly. His tone was subdued. Now that they were away from danger, Tom was sure that he was feeling the fact that his home had been destroyed down there. “How long will it take you to make your army?”

“My army is nearly complete,” Robotnik said. “But, I require the Chaos Emeralds.”

“They’re worthless,” Knuckles said.

“Perhaps to you, but as Metal fights that monster, it is gathering information about its power and how it is similar to the power that flows through its circuits and Sonic’s blood. If we can sync up Metal to the Chaos Emeralds, we can destroy Chaos once and for all.” He turned to Tom and smiled. “And then Sonic won’t have to fight that beast. Everyone wins, right?” Robotnik held out his hand for Tom to shake.

Tom eyed the hand. The idea of working with Robotnik and giving him more power made him sick. But now that he knew what Chaos was and the destruction he could bring, Tom was beginning to think that they would be better off teaming up with their enemies instead of making this a race to see who can come up with the winning solution first. Besides, if he was working with Robotnik, he could keep an eye on him and Sonic. He reluctantly took the outstretched hand.

Robotnik’s smile grew wider. “You won’t regret this, Thomas.”

“Oh, I’m sure I will.”


	12. I'll Be Good

Chapter Twelve: I’ll Be Good

Knuckles didn’t know the intricateness of Tom and Robotnik’s relationship, and frankly, he didn’t care. As the machine moved away from the hill and the metal creature fought Chaos, Knuckles could only watch his ancestral home get buried in water. His stomach lurched and he felt like he might be sick; and not just because of the flight.

When they landed, he stumbled off the machine and turned back to the fight. By that point, the metal creature had retreated from Chaos now that its master was safe. He dropped to his knees and watched as Tom went to make sure the kid was okay.

Tikal came to stand next to him. “It’ll be okay,” she whispered.

No, it wouldn’t. He looked over at the Master Emerald as Robotnik went about studying the massive gem and the corresponding Chaos Emeralds. “When did you become the optimistic one?”

She shrugged. “Like you said, it’s the end of the world.”

Knuckles sighed and leaned back on his hands. He was more exhausted than he ever remembered feeling. Tikal left him to stare up at the sky and drift off to sleep. When he woke, it was early morning. Miles was up as well, working with Robotnik’s metal hedgehog while he whistled to himself. Knuckles sighed and stretched, walking over to the fox.

“Morning.”

“Good morning, Knuckles,” he said with a flick of his tails.

Knuckles looked to the sky. It was grey in the early morning, even though the clouds were gone. By the smell in the air, it seemed like it would be a beautiful day. He sighed. As beautiful as it could get, he supposed. He had to go down to the village and survey the damage. “I’m going down there.”

Miles didn’t look up from his work. Instead, it seemed that he dug deeper into it. “Now?”

“I’d rather go without Tikal. She—” he paused and looked down at the destroyed village below. “She has people down there.”

“And you don’t?”

Knuckles clenched his fists. How was he supposed to answer that? He was an Echidna; one of the few left. But he was also a guardian. Those who protected the Master Emerald were often outcasts of the village because their whole lives were about protecting the gem and not really about protecting the tribe. He had done that during the attack, and he knew he was supposed to die. The fact that he was up there on the hill, safe, meant that he had failed as a member of his race. He had failed to die with the others. “No. My family died when Chaos was first released.”

Miles looked over, studying him. “Small world.”

He winces and avoided the kid’s gaze. How many lives had his people destroyed? How was he supposed to carry the mistakes of his fathers? “I’m going.”

Miles sighed and dropped his shoulders. He put down the screwdriver and without speaking, he started for the village. Knuckles watched him go, cocking his head.

“What are you doing?”

Miles glanced back at him. “No one should do this alone.”

Knuckles nodded and followed before taking the lead. Miles kept silent as they walked into the flooded village. The water was still up to their knees, but most had receded when Chaos had. There weren’t many Echidna left after the first attack. The majority of their race had been wiped out that night.

Dread filled the pit of Knuckles’ stomach as they walked through the water-logged village. He didn’t want to see what there was to be found there.

The first body twisted Knuckles’ gut into knots. He looked away when he found her in her home, holding a child. Neither Knuckles or Miles spoke as they continued. Each body found didn’t make it easier. Every one that they found made his stomach twist more and more. Knuckles was surprised at how well Miles was taking this. Until it dawned on him; he was taking it so well because he had seen this before. He had seen his own village destroyed and had walked through the ruins and had taken inventory of the deaths.

 _What have we done?_ Knuckles thought. Not only were the deaths here on his conscience, every death that Chaos had caused was suddenly his fault. That realization hit the hardest when he came across Pachacamac’s body.

Knuckles stood over the Chief and it felt like Mobius had opened to swallow him up. His stomach churned. If he was honest with himself, he would admit that he didn’t like their Chief all that much. He had been trying to make up for the elder Echidna’s mistakes his whole life. It wasn’t Pachacamac’s death that ripped through Knuckles’ gut; it was what he had left behind.

Knuckles dropped to his knees. The water splashed around him, wetting his hot face and cooling it down. It was dawning on his slowly. Each body that they had come across had made him slowly realized it and now that they had found the Chief of their tribe, the one who was supposed to live forever, dead, he felt the realization come to him like it was freezing his body.

He and Tikal were the last Echidnas. They were the last of their kind.

And that meant that they were the only ones left to carry the burden of Chaos and what they Echidna had done.

“What do we do?” Miles asked.

Knuckles looked up at him, confused. He couldn’t process anything.

“Don’t you guys have some sort of funeral ritual? Anything that you have to do with your dead?”

Knuckles stood slowly from where he was kneeling. He didn’t speak as he went and gathered logs and branches. He tried not to think about it. The bodies would have to be burned, but there was nothing to burn them with. The forest was drenched, and he had no way to build a funeral pyre. What was even the point?

His eyes began to sting, but he refused to cry in front of the kid. The Echidna were a proud race. If they were to cry, it was supposed to be done in the privacy of their home, far away from prying eyes.

He didn’t know when Tikal had come to join him in building the pyre. A silent agreement went between them. There were too many to burn, so they decided to do the funeral for the Chief and call it enough. As the pile of sticks grew, Knuckles’ dread grew with it. He hated this; _all_ of this. He hated them for dying and leaving this mess for him to clean up. He hated Chaos for causing havoc across their planet. He hated himself for surviving.

Once they had gotten the fire going, Tikal did the final burial rites for the dead and Knuckles sat on the steps while it burned. Miles came to sit beside him. “I’m sorry,” he said.

Knuckles shrugged. Maybe the kid knew what he was going through… maybe he didn’t. It didn’t matter, he supposed. “It’s fine.”

“It’s not, though.”

Knuckles didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t want to talk about how he and Tikal were the last of their race. He didn’t want to talk about how they were they only ones left to fix everything.

“We’ll get through this, you know.”

Knuckles scoffed. “Since when did you become the undying optimist?”

“The same time you became the guy preaching the end of the world.”

“My race is _dead.”_

Miles shrugged. “And so is my family.”

Knuckles clenched his fists. How was this kid so calm?

“But that was a while ago. I’ve spent my whole life trying to fix the mess that your race made. Maybe it’s unfair that now you have to carry that burden, but I’ve learned how unfair life really is.” Miles leaned back. “This sucks. I get that.”

Knuckles sighed and stood. “Yeah, it does. We should get started on stopping that monster before someone else has to go through this.”

Miles smiled. It was a small and sad thing. A meaningless gesture, but it somehow warmed Knuckles a little. He walked up the steps to stand beside Tikal.

“It’s just us now,” she said quietly. The light from the pyre illuminated her, casting soft shadows on the contours of her face. Her expression was surprisingly blank and emotionless. How long would it be until she broke down? He had long divorced himself from the tribe; but she hadn’t. She stared as the flames ate up their Chief’s body. “Chaos is power,” she muttered.

Knuckles nodded. It was an old prayer, passed on through the generations. He should have been taught it, but long ago, their tribe had forgotten the rest of the words. He had always thought it was a prayer in fear of Chaos. He had vague memories of his mother reciting the single phrase and telling him that it was a prayer for mercy.

“Power enriched by the heart,” Miles said, walking up the steps towards them.

Knuckles and Tikal turned to face the twin-tailed fox. “What did you say?” Tikal asked.

Miles stopped in midstep. “Chaos is power,” he recited, “power enriched by the heart.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“My mother told it to me.”

Tikal stepped towards him. “During the first Chaos attack.” She paused, studying him. “But why?”

He shrugged and looked away, tapping the step in front of him with his toe. “She wanted to give me some hope,” he said under his breath.

Knuckles shook his head. That didn’t make any sense. The prayer wasn’t hopeful. It was fearful. It was a plea for mercy.

Tikal repeated the words. “Chaos is power; power enriched by the heart…” She trailed off, shaking her head. “Enriched… by the heart.” Suddenly, her face lit up. “Tom!” she shouted and ran down the steps and towards where the humans had been left, splashing in the water as she ran.

Knuckles turned to Miles and cocked his head. The kid shrugged before the two hurried after Tikal, confused.

By the time they reached the submit of the hill, Tikal was talking rapidly to Tom.

He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

“Sonic’s power,” she gasped, motioning to the metal hedgehog. “It’s based on his emotions, right?”

“Yes?” Tom said, cocking his head with a lifted eyebrow.

“Enriched by the heart,” Tikal said, breathless. “His powers _are_ linked to the Chaos Emeralds! Or, there is some connection.”

Knuckles’ eyes widened. The Emeralds. He remembered when they had been their beautiful, colorful selves. When Chaos had come, they had lost their powers. But had they? “You’re not suggesting—”

“That Chaos took the _negative_ power from the Emeralds,” Tikal finished. “The hatred, the greed that drove father to release that beast on Mobius.”

“If that’s true—”

“Then Sonic needs to tap into positive power?” Tom asked, shaking his head.

Knuckles nodded. Maybe to a human who lived in a world were magic like this didn’t exist, it sounded stupid and downright implausible, but to the Mobians, it all made sense.

“Robotnik, we need Sonic!” Tom called.

“I told you that I would bring him when we had a plan.”

“We do have a plan.”

Robotnik narrowed his eyes and it seemed that he would deny their request. But then he shrugged and motioned them forward. “Very well.” He pressed a few buttons on his gloves and in a few minutes, a large floating ship came. He motioned them to board.

Knuckles grabbed Tikal’s arm before she could step inside. “We’re going to be okay,” he assured her.

She gave him a sad little grin and nodded. “I know.”

When they got to the workshop that the Echidna had given Robotnik, they all disembarked from the ship and were led inside.

Knuckles froze when he spotted the hedgehog. The blue blur was sitting on a table reading something that Knuckles couldn’t see. “Tom!” Sonic called and jumped from the table, running into Tom’s arms for a hug.

Knuckles hung back, acutely aware of what he was and what his people had done. He leaned on the doorframe while Miles went to them and started apologizing profusely. The reunion was cute until Sonic noticed the red Echidna standing in the doorway.

He narrowed his eyes and in a blink, they were on the ground outside. It felt like he had been hit by a train and it took several tries before he could breathe again.

Before Sonic could do too much damage, Tom had grabbed him and was peeling him off Knuckles. The Echidna wasn’t one to just let himself get beaten to pulp, but he figured he would give Sonic a few cheap shots to make him feel better.

“What’s gotten into you?” Tom snapped.

Sonic tore out of his grip and glared hard at Knuckles. “His people killed Longclaw!” He pointed forcefully at Knuckles. “And forced me from my home!”

That wasn’t him. He hadn’t killed Longclaw. He hadn’t been part of the ones that had forced Sonic from his home, but he made no move to defend himself. He was the only one left who could take the blame for it. His tribe’s crimes were now his burden to shoulder. He had to pay for their mistakes; and fix them.

“I’m sorry,” was all he said.

“Sorry?” Sonic laughed; a bitter sound. “Will that bring her back? Will it make up for the ten years I lived alone because of the actions of your tribe?”

“No.”

Sonic stepped forward. “You’re right, it won’t!”

Tom sighed and put a hand on Sonic’s head. So much for positive emotion and power.

Tom knelt in front of Sonic. “You can’t blame him for everything that his people did,” he explained. “Knuckles isn’t responsible for the crimes of his tribe.”

“I am, though,” he said, stepping towards them. Sonic bristled and his quills lifted slightly. Knuckles stopped advancing. “I am responsible, because I’m all that’s left. I won’t let Tikal carry this with her. So, if it makes him feel better, then he can blame me.”

Tom shook his head. “That’s wrong.” He turned back to Sonic. “We think we now how to beat that monster, okay? We need to power the Emeralds again.”

Knuckles turned and started leaving. Miles jogged after him. “Where are you going?”

“He needs to be positive, right?”

“If our hypothesis is correct, yeah.”

Knuckles shrugged. “He won’t be positive if I’m here.”

“It’s not your fault, Knuckles.”

He nodded. “I know it’s not… but there’s no one else left to blame.”

Maddie held the red and black hedgehog as the car bounced along the road. Stone wasn’t going to drop her off at the vet clinic like she had requested, so her hand was over the bullet wound to keep the blood in. “Where are we going?” she asked.

Stone said nothing as he drove the car down the long road. The headlights didn’t seem to illuminate more than a few yards in front of the car.

“He needs medical attention.”

“I know,” he said sharply. “We will get him what he needs when we get there.”

Maddie narrowed her eyes. Where was _there?_ He had been the one to throw the ring portal back to Earth, so she had no idea where they were. “And what about me?”

He didn’t answer. They passed a sign, but they were moving too quickly for her to read it.

“How am I getting home? This is kidnapping, Mr. Stone.”

“I know it is.” He gripped the steering wheel tightly and stared forward, his hands shaking.

The car came up to a gate and he slowed down, rolling the window. Maddie tried to calculate her chances of taking Stone down, but she had to keep her hands on Shadow or he might bleed out.

A woman stepped up to the car. “Name?”

“Anders Stone,” he said, holding out an ID card. She took it. She was wearing some sort of uniform that didn’t match any branch of the military that Maddie was familiar with.

She handed the ID card back. “Business, Agent?” She clearly hadn’t seen the pitch black creature in Maddie’s arms; Or, if she had, she hadn’t noticed what it was.

“I need to speak to the Commander,” Stone said. 

Commander? Maddie held onto Shadow tighter. She wanted to say something, but she knew that if they didn’t get in there soon, the hedgehog might die.

“And who do you have with you?”

“A guest,” Stone said.

She narrowed her eyes. “A guest?”

“This has to do with the events that happened a few months ago. The blackout.”

The woman nodded slowly and straightened. “Of course.” She opened the gate.

“Thank you.” Stone drove into the gates and they shut, leaving them behind. He turned off the headlights and drove. Before long, they were engulfed in trees on either side. Maddie’s stomach twisted and she absently patted Shadow’s back. He groaned softly and shifted but remained unconscious.

“You brought us to G.U.N., didn’t you?”

He nodded. “Don’t worry. They won’t hurt you.”

“What about him?” She motioned to Shadow. Stone spared a glance at the hedgehog in her lap and he frowned before looking back at the road. “What about the hedgehog?”

Stone sighed. “You don’t understand what’s going on. I don’t either. There’s a reason that there was a hedgehog up on that space stations 50 years before what we’re now considering our fist interaction with aliens. Clearly Gerald Robotnik knew what these things are.”

Maddie looked down at Shadow and shook her head. “Is it really a good idea to be here with him? If G.U.N. had the A.R.K. shut down, won’t they be a little reluctant to look at what they’ve left up there?”

Stone said nothing.

“Agent Stone… Anders… This is _wrong._ ”

He gripped the steering wheel tight enough that she was afraid he would break it. He nodded slowly. “I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It would be awesome if Agent Stone's canon name ends up being Anders!


End file.
